Court Opinion

ID: 9790471
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:53:29.330375+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:29.733761
License: Public Domain

KENNARD, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur in the judgment. As indicated by my concurring and dissenting opinion in People v. Webb (1993) 6 Cal.4th 494, 537 [24 Cal.Rptr.2d 779, 862 P.2d 779], I am of the view that the Sixth Amendment affords criminal defendants a right to pretrial discovery of privately held and privileged documents when discovery is necessary to a fair trial. To invoke the right, however, a criminal defendant must first make a showing of good cause for discovery. In this context, good cause means a reasonable likelihood that the documents contain information that is both material and favorable to the defense and that the same or comparable information is not obtainable from nonprivileged sources. If the defendant makes this showing, then the trial court is required to examine the documents in camera, to balance the interests served by the privilege against a defendant’s right to a fair trial, and to disclose the documents in whole or in part to the extent that this balance tilts in the defendant’s favor. (See People v. Reber (1986) 177 Cal.App.3d 523, 531-532 [223 Cal.Rptr. 139]; see also State ex rel. Romley v. Superior Court (1992) 172 Ariz. 232, 234-240 [836 P.2d 445, 452-454]; State v. Joyner (1993) 225 Conn. 450, 477-479 [625 A.2d 791, 805-806]; State v. Pinder (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 1996) 678 So.2d 410, 415-417; Com. v. Fuller (1996) 423 Mass. 216, 223-227 [667 N.E.2d 847, 853-855]; People v. Stanaway (1994) 446 Mich. 643, 649-651 [521 N.W.2d 557, 562]; State v. Hummel (Minn. 1992) 483 N.W.2d 68, 71-72; State v. Newton (Mo.Ct.App. 1996) 925 S.W.2d 468, 471-472; State v. Trammell (1989) 231 Neb. 137, 142-143 [435 N.W.2d 197, 201]; State v. Cressey (1993) 137 N.H. 402, 413 [628 A.2d 696, 703-704]; State v. L.J.P. (1994) 270 N.J. Super. 429, 439 [637 A.2d 532, 537]; State v. Luna (1996) 122 N.M. 143, 145-146 [921 P.2d 950, 952-953]; State v. Behnke (1996) 203 Wis.2d 43, 48-50 [553 N.W.2d 265, 268-269].)
In this sexual molestation prosecution, defendant sought to discover the psychotherapy records of the complaining witness, Jacqueline K., but he *1132failed to make the required showing of good cause. Defendant effectively conceded that the records were not material on the issue of his guilt or innocence. He argued only that they were relevant to the complaining witness’s credibility. Defendant did not allege, much less produce evidence, that the witness suffers from a specific psychiatric disorder that might affect her ability to accurately relate facts. As the complaining witness’s former foster parent, defendant would normally have been informed of any such diagnosis. Rather, defendant asserted that the therapy records were material because they might contain evidence of the witness’s propensity to fabricate and fantasize, particularly about sexual matters. In support of this hypothesis, defendant offered only a social worker’s note stating that the minor had a tendency to tell social workers what she thought they wanted to hear. But this note was remote in time, it did not relate to sexual matters, and it did not indicate a tendency to fantasize or to make false accusations. In short, the note tended to show only the complaining witness’s compliant behavior with social workers at age 12; it provided no basis for suspecting that at age 17 the complaining witness would make false accusations of sexual molestation against a foster parent. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in declining to review the psychotherapy records in camera, and on this basis I join the majority in affirming the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied September 17, 1997. Mosk, J., and Kennard, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.