Opinion ID: 867478
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Preclude Dr. Sullivan from Testifying

Text: ¶ 112 Moody argues that the trial court erred by failing to preclude one of the State's mental health experts, Dr. Sullivan, from testifying because of the late disclosure of his notes and defense counsel's inability to re-interview him. ¶ 113 Before trial, Moody allowed Dr. Sullivan to interview him on the condition that the doctor not take notes. Immediately after concluding the interview, Dr. Sullivan dictated a report. Dr. Sullivan's report was disclosed to defense counsel two weeks before trial so that counsel could prepare to interview Dr. Sullivan. Defense counsel interviewed Dr. Sullivan once before trial and again on May 19, a week before Dr. Sullivan was scheduled to testify. At the May 19 interview, defense counsel learned that Dr. Sullivan had compiled forty pages of handwritten notes following the first interview, in preparation for trial. These notes were disclosed to the defense two days after that interview, but defense counsel did not have an opportunity to re-interview Dr. Sullivan after their disclosure and therefore moved to preclude Dr. Sullivan from testifying. Moody now claims that denial of that motion was error and warrants reversal of his convictions. ¶ 114 Whether to impose a sanction for late disclosure and which sanction to impose are discretionary decisions left to the trial court; we will not disturb those decisions absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Tucker, 157 Ariz. 433, 439, 759 P.2d 579, 585 (1988). Preclusion is a sanction of last resort, State v. Talmadge, 196 Ariz. 436, 440, 999 P.2d 192, 196 (2000), to be imposed only if other less stringent sanctions are not applicable. State v. Smith, 123 Ariz. 243, 252, 599 P.2d 199, 208 (1979). ¶ 115 Moody cites only one case suggesting that a failure to disclose evidence relating to a witness might require preclusion of that witness. In State v. Krone, 182 Ariz. 319, 321-23, 897 P.2d 621, 623-25 (1995), we held that a trial court erroneously failed to preclude a witness's key exhibit, the centerpiece of the star witness's testimony, which was not disclosed to the defense until the day before trial. Krone turned upon a bite-mark pattern on the victim; the exhibit that the defense sought to preclude was a videotape of the bite-mark analysis. Id. at 320-22, 897 P.2d at 622-24. Our determination that the video should have been precluded was based on the importance of that evidence: We noted that without the bite-mark evidence, there likely would have been no jury submissible case against Krone. Id. at 322, 897 P.2d at 624. ¶ 116 Moody has not demonstrated that similar circumstances exist in this case. Moody's brief contains no suggestion of what was in the doctor's notes, no explanation of how, if at all, the late disclosure prejudiced him, and no indication whether the notes revealed information that differed from that explored during his attorney's two interviews of Dr. Sullivan. Consequently, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to preclude Dr. Sullivan's testimony.