Opinion ID: 2325777
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Quashing of the Subpoena

Text: Appellant Turner's second claim is that it was error for the trial court to have quashed his subpoena of certain police records. This subpoena, which was served on Chief of Police Burtell Jefferson on May 18, 1979, requested copies of all search warrants for the premises of 1414 Swann Street, N.W.the site of the homicide and robberywhich were issued between January 1, 1976 and April 9, 1978 (the day after the crimes). Defendant argued that these warrants were needed to substantiate his theory that the apartment was a notorious house of prostitution and drug distribution point, and that there was a significant likelihood that other guests at the apartment might have had the motive and opportunity to rob the victims at gunpoint. Upon the government's motion, the trial court quashed the subpoena as oppressive. Appellant Turner argues that this was error. We disagree. Super.Ct.Cr.R. 17(c) provides that [t]he court on motion made promptly may quash or modify the subpoena if compliance would be unreasonable or oppressive. We have held that the court's decision to quash velnon will be reversed only where it rises to the level of an abuse of discretion, that is, is either arbitrary or without record support. See Cooper v. United States, D.C.App., 353 A.2d 696, 702 (1976). In Cooper, we established the burden upon the applicant for the subpoena: [The] party seeking a subpoena duces tecum [must] show the following: (1) that the documents are evidentiary and relevant; (2) that they are not otherwise procurable reasonably in advance of trial by exercise of due diligence; (3) that the party cannot properly prepare for trial without such production and inspection in advance of trial and that the failure to obtain such inspection may tend unreasonably to delay the trial; and (4) that the application is made in good faith and is not intended as a fishing expedition. [ Id. at 701, quoting United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 699-700, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 3103-04, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974).] The trial court correctly concluded that the evidence sought to be adduced through the search warrants would have been irrelevant to the charges against Turner. Even if the warrants had shown the existence of drug traffic and prostitution at the apartment during the two and one half years before the murder and robbery here, it would be mere speculation to conclude from this history that someone other than the defendants had been present at the specific time of these crimes. Nothing in the record or proffered by either party even remotely suggested that someone other than the defendants had either the motive or the particular opportunity to commit the crimes with which the defendants were charged. On the other hand, several witnesses, including the surviving victim, placed appellant Turner in the apartment at the time of the crime. The court rightly concluded that the non-probative nature of the warrants suggested that the subpoena was intended as a fishing expedition. This, coupled with the fact that the warrants were public information, furnished a more than adequate basis for the trial judge to quash the subpoena.