Opinion ID: 2032711
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: expert assistance and continuance

Text: Jaques argues that he was denied due process of law when the trial court refused his requests for court-appointed experts to analyze physical evidence held by the State. This evidence and results of tests by State experts were made available to the defense one day before the motion hearing concerning Jaques' request for expert assistance, and two and one-half weeks before trial. The defense also requested a continuance to allow time for experts to analyze the released material. Specifically, Jaques requested: 1) examination of a knife for fingerprints; 2) examination of the skillet used by Gray for fingerprints and bloodstains; 3) analysis of Gray's clothing for blood and hair evidence; 4) analysis of Sitting Crow's and his own clothing for blood and hair evidence; 5) examination of the wine bottle fragments; 6) examination of a mop used to clean blood off the floor of the Sitting Crow house; and 7) appointment of an expert to reconstruct Gray's blow to Sitting Crow's head. Jaques supports this argument by citing United States v. Patterson, 724 F.2d 1128, 1130 (5th Cir.1984): [W]here the government's case is heavily dependent on evidence with regard to which a government expert testifies and the defendant has been denied the appointment of an expert, such evidence is sufficiently crucial to the government's theory that denial of a defense expert constitutes reversible error. The Fifth Circuit's reasoning in Patterson is based on Bradford v. United States, 413 F.2d 467 (5th Cir.1969) (government case based on fingerprint and handwriting expert testimony, and corroborated only by testimony of a codefendant who had pled guilty). In Patterson itself, the government case was built on conflicting eyewitness testimony, a possibly racially tainted in-court identification, and fingerprint analyses by three government witnesses. Patterson, 724 F.2d at 1130-31. Jaques buttresses his argument with Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 105 S.Ct. 1087, 84 L.Ed. 2d 53 (1985), wherein the United States Supreme Court recognized a state's duty to make certain that an indigent defendant must have access to the materials needed to build an effective defense. The guidelines for determining when court-appointed experts are essential to an adequate defense are: 1) The request must be made in good faith; 2) the request must be reasonable in all respects; 3) the request must be timely and set forth reasons which seem to make such services needed or necessary to the defendant, and 4) the request must specify that the defendant is financially unable to obtain the required service himself and that such services would otherwise be justifiably obtained if the defendant were financially able. State v. Sahlie, 90 S.D. 682, 690, 245 N.W.2d 476,480 (1976). See also State v. Hallman, 391 N.W.2d 191 (S.D.1986). However, if the request is frivolous, unreasonable, unnecessary for an adequate defense, or without underlying factual support, the appointment need not be made. Hallman, id. at 194; Sahlie, 90 S.D. at 691, 245 N.W.2d at 480. The State argues that the defense requests were unreasonable or unnecessary for an adequate defense. We agree. The knife was not used in the fight, and analysis, at best, might have been useful to weakly impeach Johnson's credibility regarding her testimony that both defendants had picked up the knife in the course of the evening. The State expert indicated that no prints sufficient for identification were on the knife blade or sheath and no blood or fingerprint evidence linking the defendants to the knife was offered. Regarding the skillet, the government witness testified that Sitting Crow's blood was on it, substantiating the testimony that Gray used it against Sitting Crow, and no evidence was presented contradicting the defendants' claims regarding it. As to the blood and hair evidence on clothing, again, there is no dispute that there was a fight at close quarters, with blood all about. Further testing would have proved little. The wine bottle's use by Gray was not contradicted, nor was the blood on the floor. Testing of the mop and bottle would be superfluous. Finally, the request for reconstruction of Gray's blow with the bottle to Sitting Crow's head was not essential in any sense, and true reconstruction after the Sitting Crow household had gathered up the glass, moved the furniture, and mopped the floor was impossible. Expert assistance and a continuance were not necessary to prepare an adequate defense. Contrary to the defendant's claim, the fingerprint and blood evidence was not the essential basis of the State's case, for that was provided by the statements of the defendants and other eyewitnesses (the neighbors). Absent abuse of discretion, the trial court's decision regarding appointment of an expert will not be tampered with. Hallman, 391 N.W.2d at 195. Here, the trial court did not abuse its discretion. Id.