Court Opinion

ID: 9567897
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:58:50.50224+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:22:22.199153
License: Public Domain

TOCI, Chief Judge,
specially concurring.
I concur in the result. In my view, Part B is sufficient to dispose of this case. I agree that the evidence Trebus wished to offer was not clearly exculpatory and that issues of credibility and inconsistencies in witness testimony are best resolved by trial.
I take issue with the remainder of the opinion for two reasons. First, Part A is not necessary to the holding in this case, and therefore has no precedential value. Furthermore, I disagree with it. Although the prosecutor must disclose clearly exculpatory evidence, State v. Coconino Cty. Sup. Ct., 139 Ariz. 422, 425, 678 P.2d 1386, 1389 (1984), A.R.S. section 21-412 (1990) states the grand jury is “under no duty to hear evidence at the request of the person under investigation.” Thus, Trebus had no absolute right to testify or to have information presented to the grand jury unless that information was “clearly exculpatory.”
The letter on Trebus’ behalf did not state what exculpatory information he had to offer nor that Trebus would testify before the grand jury if given the opportunity. It simply stated that the lawyer wished “the opportunity to present ... exculpatory evidence that may not have been presented to you, or to clarify perhaps misleading interpretations of the facts as seen by the investigating officers.” Therefore, Part A of this opinion is advisory when it states that the prosecutor “must inform the grand jury that the defendant has requested to appear,” which Trebus did not, “or has submitted exculpatory evidence.” See Maj. op. at 625, 944 P.2d at 1239. As to the latter, although Trebus’ lawyer suggested he had exculpatory evidence, what he actually wished to do was to highlight for the grand jury evidence of the victim’s lack of veracity or inconsistency in reporting the events at issue. In this case, that was not “clearly exculpatory evidence.”