Opinion ID: 2389996
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: late filing of state's brief

Text: Immediately prior to oral argument in this case, counsel for the defendant moved that the brief submitted by the state be excluded from consideration and further that counsel for the state should be prevented from presenting oral argument to the court. The grounds for this motion were based upon the late filing of the state's brief. There is no question that the brief of the state was filed late. If counsel for the defendant had requested a continuance so that he might further consider his response in oral argument to the contentions contained in the state's brief, such a request would in all likelihood have been freely granted. However, to apply the drastic remedy set forth in Rule 16(e) of the Supreme Court Rules of Appellate Procedure would have been a disproportionate sanction in light of the circumstances of this case. The workload of the appellate division of the Attorney General's department is extremely heavy. Thus late filings would be more appropriately remedied by granting a continuance to defense counsel as opposed to excluding the brief from consideration or precluding counsel for the state from oral argument. Therefore, we permitted counsel for the state to argue orally and have considered the state's brief in reaching our conclusions in the drafting of this opinion. For the reasons stated, the appeal of the defendant is denied. The rulings made by the trial justice are affirmed, and the case may be remanded to the Superior Court for a new trial in accordance with the order of the trial justice.