Opinion ID: 2134813
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: issues v, vi, vii & viii

Text: The defendant contends that the trial court should have imposed sanctions against the State for violation of its discovery order. Officer Andert, the officer who first arrived at the scene, and Reverend Neely, the Chaplain of the South Bend Police Department, testified that they had made notes of the incident. The notes contained the victim's description of the perpetrators. Andert had used the notes to prepare his typewritten reports. The officer testified that he did not know what he did with the notes after he made his report. Reverend Neely's notes pertained to the difference in description between the defendant and his twin brother; however, the record is not clear on this point. The twin brother was present at the robbery and was arrested. Reverend Neely had not looked for these notes until he learned that he would be called as a witness, at which time he could not find them. Prosecutorial control is a prerequisite of the defendant's right to discover pretrial statements of a witness. Spears v. State, (1980) Ind., 403 N.E.2d 828, 831. The evidence shows and the defendant does not dispute that the prosecutor had never had control of these notes.