Opinion ID: 1195356
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Delay in discovery

Text: Defendant contends that the trial court erred in refusing to set aside the information, exclude the testimony of Arvie Carroll, or impose any other effective sanction for the prosecution's failure to disclose to the defense before the preliminary hearing that the prosecution possessed evidence that defendant had made inculpatory statements to jailhouse informant Arvie Carroll. Before the preliminary hearing, Carroll, a person incarcerated with defendant in the county jail, informed the prosecution that defendant had admitted to Carroll that defendant had killed Detective Williams. The prosecution did not inform the defense of this statement until approximately two months after the preliminary hearing. Defendant made an unsuccessful motion to set aside the information or bar the testimony of Carroll at trial, or for some other appropriate sanction against the prosecution for its delay in complying with the trial court's discovery order. Defendant contends that the trial court's refusal to impose a sanction constituted a violation of his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process of law and to confront the witnesses against him. He asserts a violation of parallel provisions of the California Constitution. As we have stated, [i]t is defendant's burden to show that the failure to timely comply with any discovery order is prejudicial, and that a continuance would not have cured the harm. ( People v. Pinholster (1992) 1 Cal.4th 865, 941, 4 Cal. Rptr.2d 765, 824 P.2d 571.) Defendant fails to demonstrate prejudice. He contends he was prejudiced because he was unable to examine Carroll at the preliminary hearing or to interview witnesses regarding the credibility of Carroll's statement. He contends the prosecution gained a tactical advantage by shielding Carroll from examination at the preliminary hearing regarding defendant's inculpatory statement and Carroll's possible status as a government agent. He contends he thereby was deprived of an opportunity to develop an affirmative defense. The contention is unpersuasive. Defendant had ample time  one and a half years  after learning of Carroll's statement to the prosecution to prepare to challenge the evidence and develop any affirmative defense. Defendant's claim that had he known of Carroll's statement prior to the preliminary hearing, he would have called Carroll as a witness at that hearing and obtained evidence to discredit him and to support a defense that defendant was being framed is entirely speculative. In any event, as noted, defendant had ample opportunity in the extended period between the disclosure of Carroll's statement and the trial to gather evidence in support of such a claim. [6] Defendant's contention also is premised upon the assumption that a limitation on a defendant's ability to discover evidence and to develop a defense at the preliminary hearing necessarily is reversible error. Such error, however, at the preliminary hearing is not reversible on appeal in the absence of a showing of prejudice at trial. ( People v. Pompa-Ortiz (1980) 27 Cal.3d 519, 529, 165 Cal.Rptr. 851, 612 P.2d 941 [holding that irregularities at the preliminary hearing that are not jurisdictional in the fundamental sense require reversal on appeal only if the defendant can demonstrate that he or she was deprived of a fair trial or otherwise suffered prejudice as a result of the error at the preliminary examination].) At trial, defendant was able to confront and cross-examine Carroll, having had ample opportunity to investigate the basis for the witness's testimony and any affirmative defense suggested by it. The delay in disclosure did not implicate defendant's due process right to be informed of material evidence favorable to the accused (see Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215; see also United States v. Bagley (1985) 473 U.S. 667, 678, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481); he was informed of the evidence and had ample time to investigate before trial. Moreover, the evidence in the prosecution's possession was not favorable to the accused. Finally, defendant fails to support his contention that the trial court was required to impose the sanctions of dismissal or exclusion of evidence, or at least impose a special jury instruction, because the prosecution allegedly had committed a willful violation of a discovery order. The cases cited by defendant recognize that courts have broad discretion in determining the appropriate sanction for discovery abuse, and recognize that sanctions ranging from dismissal to the giving of special jury instructions may be required in order to ensure that the defendant receives a fair trial, particularly when potentially favorable evidence has been suppressed. (See, e.g., People v. Zamora (1980) 28 Cal.3d 88, 99, 167 Cal.Rptr. 573, 615 P.2d 1361; People v. Caldwell (1991) 282 Cal.Rptr. 272, 230 Cal.App.3d Supp. 1, 5 [reversing an order dismissing a complaint for discovery violations in the absence of a showing of prejudice].) Defendant cites no case, and our research has disclosed none, establishing that the prosecutor's pretrial delay  whether willful or not  in disclosing inculpatory evidence to the defendant requires a particular sanction as a matter of due process, or that failure to impose a sanction for a period of delay that occurred long before trial requires reversal of a conviction in the absence of prejudice to the defendant at trial. We note that the record does not support defendant's contention that the trial court did nothing to protect him from violation of the court's discovery order. At the hearing on the motion to set aside the information, at which the prosecutor asserted that concern for Carroll's safety led to the delay in disclosure, the trial court determined that defendant had not been prejudiced by the delay in discovery, but warned the prosecutor not to make any further unilateral decisions regarding compliance with the court's discovery order and threatened sanctions if the court's warning were not heeded. In sum, no constitutional violation or other error has been shown.