Opinion ID: 2264062
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 22

Heading: Lyonnais's Criminal History

Text: The defendant's first allegation of a discovery violation stems from the state's failure to make defendant aware of criminal charges then pending against Lyonnais, the man who helped supply defendant with a handgun. Although Lyonnais had told police that in 1998 he had marijuana charges pending against him in Massachusetts, the state, in an effort to comply with defendant's request for discovery, only divulged the results of a search of the National Crime Information Computer Index, which documented other arrests and convictions, but not the Massachusetts charges. The defendant, however, was made aware of the pending charges prior to Lyonnais's testimony. At trial, Lyonnais testified that those charges were pending and that he did not receive favorable treatment in exchange for his testimony in this case. Although defendant should have had notice prior to trial that Lyonnais, a key state's witness, might have had criminal charges pending against him in Massachusetts, little prejudice resulted from the state's failure in this instance. Put simply, defendant was able to use the Massachusetts charges on cross-examination; defendant inquired on cross-examination whether those charges had been dropped by the Massachusetts authorities in exchange for his testimony in this trial. Lyonnais denied this suggestion and, thus, we fail to see how defendant was prejudiced. Furthermore, if defendant were given a new trial, his cross-examination of Lyonnais on this issue probably would be identical to the one conducted at this trial. Thus, we hold that the state's failure to provide defendant with pending charges did not violate Rule 16 or Brady. 2