Opinion ID: 1720797
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Provide Witness Information

Text: MacKintrush has been tried twice on this murder charge. The first trial ended in a mistrial when the jury deadlocked. A second trial was continued, when a witness failed to appear. A third trial was held on July 30, 1996. Before MacKintrush's first trial, he filed a motion for discovery under Rule 17.1 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure. The prosecutor responded by allowing inspection of the case file under the office's open file policy. During the trial which is at issue in this appeal, the prosecutor called Cynthia Marks to the stand. Defense counsel objected and argued that the prosecutor had not disclosed her as a witness. The prosecutor responded that defense counsel had been told about this witness before this trial as well as prior to the previous trial, where she had been introduced to the jury but had not testified. The following day, the trial court held a hearing on the objection to Cynthia Marks's being called as a witness. The prosecutor admitted that Ms. Marks's name had not been in the original file made available to defense counsel, but it had been on a witness list provided to defense counsel. Further, the prosecutor offered to the trial court that it was office policy to call defense counsel any time a new witness was added. Defense counsel countered that the prosecutor had not called him about Ms. Marks and that her name had not been on any list supplied to him. The prosecutor then produced a copy of a fax to defense counsel dated June 18, 1995, summarizing Ms. Marks's statement. The trial court asked defense counsel if he had reviewed the prosecutor's file after June 19, 1995. Defense counsel responded that his investigator reviewed the file after that date, but that the information about Ms. Marks was added at a later date, and that, in any event, it would be too much of a burden for defense counsel to go through the prosecutor's file repeatedly to look for new information. The trial court ruled that it would allow Ms. Marks to testify, because it found that the information about her testimony was in the file on June 19, 1995. Despite the ruling, the prosecutor withdrew Ms. Marks as a witness, and she did not testify at trial. The standard of review for imposing sanctions for discovery violations is whether there has been an abuse of discretion. Moore v. State, 323 Ark. 529, 915 S.W.2d 284 (1996). When there has been a failure to comply with discovery procedures, a trial court is not required to suppress evidence unless prejudice will result. Id. at 542-543, 915 S.W.2d at 292. Here, the trial court ruled that the State had complied with discovery procedures and that MacKintrush did have prior knowledge of this witness. Also, the State did not call her. It is difficult for us to see how any prejudice resulted under these circumstances, and we affirm the trial court's ruling. Defense counsel also objected to the prosecutor's calling Jewel Williams as a witness for the same reasons he objected to Cynthia Marks. The prosecutor responded by producing a fax cover sheet and a copy of Ms. William's statement that had been faxed to defense counsel on March 5, 1996. Ms. William's statement included information that on a Friday before her death, Ogretta MacKintrush came to work with marks inside her mouth, a cut lip, and scratch marks. Defense counsel argued that this information was exculpatory since the jury could infer that someone else, perhaps a boyfriend of Mrs. MacKintrush's, had committed the crime. The trial court found that defense counsel had gotten the statement before trial and denied the multiple motions for a mistrial, dismissal of the charges, and continuance. Under Rule 17.1 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, the State is required to disclose to the defense any material or information within its knowledge, possession, or control which tends to negate the guilt of the defendant. Failure, however, to disclose such evidence will not warrant reversal absent a showing of prejudice. Smith v. State, 326 Ark. 520, 932 S.W.2d 753 (1996). Also, [w]hen the State fails to provide the information, the burden then falls on the appellant to show that the omission was sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial. Furthermore, we have not deemed a failure of the State to provide information to be prejudicial when the defendant already had access to it. Id. at 523, 932 S.W.2d at 754. Here, the trial court weighed the circumstances and information before it and found that defense counsel did have the information before the trial. We are not convinced that this finding of fact was clearly erroneous so as to warrant reversal.