Court Opinion

ID: 9588385
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:33:50.160291+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:33.015589
License: Public Domain

BUSSEY, Presiding Judge
(specially concurring).
I am in accord with the views expressed by Judge SIMMS in his analysis of what constitutes the “work product” of the District Attorney, and share his views that the Honorable Earl Truesdale lacked constitutional or statutory authority to grant pretrial inspection of the unsworn statements of Mrs. Georgia Whipple Jenkins. As I perceive and interpret Judge Simm’s opinion, the question presented was not whether the Magistrate abused his discretion in granting the request of defense counsel, but rather turned on his constitutional and statutory authority to require the production of such testimony and statements. In this context, the authority of the trial court, if the defendant is held to stand trial after preliminary examination, in passing on a similar request for pre-trial inspection of such statements is not discretionary, but his authority to require pretrial inspection of the work products of the District Attorney must be derived from either constitutional or statutory authority.
Our decision that the defense is not entitled to pre-trial examination of the statements of Georgia Whipple Jenkins for the reason that the same is not authorized by the constitution or the statutes of the State of Oklahoma, would, in my judgment, preclude the trial court from granting a similar request made subsequent to the issuance of this opinion.
In any event, the granting or denial of pre-trial inspection of pre-trial statements is not a matter of discretion, but a matter of authority vested in the court by the constitution and the statutes of Oklahoma and as such, prohibition will lie when the Judge acts in excess of such authority.