Opinion ID: 2551468
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Denying Sanctions Motions Based on Castillo's Purported Perjury

Text: Defendant moved the trial court for an order enjoining any further prosecution of the instant matter. Said motion is made on the grounds that: [¶] (1) The prosecution of Defendant[¶] under the information presently filed against them is based solely on the testimony of Pedro Castillo; [¶] (2) On the basis of ... the preliminary examination in this case ..., good cause exists to believe Pedro Castillo has committed, and will continue to commit, material perjury. As authority for the motion, defendant asserted a right not to be placed in jeopardy of the death penalty by perjurious testimony, a right located, in his view, in the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and article I, sections 15 and 17 of the California Constitution. Elsewhere in the motion, defendant argued in essence that either the prosecution must prove the reliability and credibility of Castillo's testimony via an evidentiary presentation of its investigative efforts at a hearing, or the case, or at least the special circumstances, must be enjoined, stricken, or dismissed. At a hearing on his motion, defendant objected that the police had never questioned Castillo about his involvement with narcotics, even though they knew from the outset that this was a drug-related case. Without abandoning the forms of relief he had sought in his written papers, he asked the trial court to consider his motion, in the alternative, as one to dismiss the information under section 995. The people argued that there was no authority for the motion and that Castillo's purported perjury was tangential to the question whether defendant and Hector Ayala had committed murder. The trial court interpreted defendant's motion as one to order the prosecution or the police to investigate items of evidence. It ruled that it lacked authority to do so, and denied the motion. Defendant cites no pertinent authority in support of his motion, and our own research has not disclosed any either. The impartiality of the trial court in affording the litigants a fair trial is buttressed by the realization that at the fact-finding stage of the proceeding the court possesses no investigatory or inquisitorial function. ( Matter of Smith (1986) 133 Misc.2d 1115, 1116, 509 N.Y.S.2d 962, 963.) Moreover, the District Attorney [is] entitled to a strong presumption of legitimacy of [its] role. ( People v. Doe (1990) 148 Misc.2d 286, 291, 560 N.Y.S.2d 177, 181.) We agree with principles stated by the Arkansas Supreme Court, which rejected a claim similar to defendant's. In State v. Pulaski County Circuit Court (1994) 316 Ark. 514, 872 S.W.2d 414 (per curiam) , the state sought a writ of prohibition against a trial court order directing the prosecutor to perform scientific tests on samples taken from three defendants charged with rape. The Arkansas Supreme Court held that the circuit court lacked the authority to direct the prosecutor as to what scientific tests to perform in its investigation and trial preparation. A circuit court may not perform the duties of the prosecuting attorney. [Citation.] We have held in this regard that the powers given to a prosecutor to charge the accused are guarded by the doctrine of separation of powers. [Citation.] [¶] Moreover, the United States Supreme Court has determined that the defendant's right to a fair trial as embraced within the Due Process Clause is not violated when the police fail to use a particular investigatory tool' [Citation.] (Id. at p. 516, 872 S.W.2d at p. 415.) Without making any judgment on the applicability of the Arkansas Supreme Court's reasoning to scientific-testing requirements in this state, we agree with its description of limitations on a trial court's authority in general to compel prosecutorial investigative action. The trial court herein committed no error under California law, whether constitutional, decisional, or statutory, nor was there any violation of the federal Constitution.