Court Opinion

ID: 9609101
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:22:31.992253+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:48.981032
License: Public Domain

RONALD R. HOLLIGER, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the result of the majority opinion affirming the conviction of Charles Alen. I write separately because I believe that there was no prejudice to Allen by the exclusion of Ms. Gray’s testimony and, therefore, no abuse of discretion by the trial judge. Nevertheless, I believe that the trial court erred in not asking the State to identify what prejudice it claimed resulted from the late endorsement of the witness.
A violation of Rule 25.05 requiring disclosure of witness identity by both the *232State and a defendant exposes either party to potential sanctions under Rule 25.16:
If at any time during the course of the proceeding it is brought to the attention of the court that a party has failed to comply with an applicable discovery rule or an order issued pursuant thereto, the court may order such party to make disclosure of material and information not previously disclosed, grant a continuance, exclude such evidence, or enter such other order as it deems just under the circumstances. Willful violation by counsel of an applicable discovery rule or an order issued pursuant thereto may subject counsel to appropriate sanctions by the court.
(Emphasis added).
The issue of whether any sanctions at all should be imposed is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court. Likewise, the issue of what sanction is appropriate is a matter for the trial court’s discretion. As Rule 25.16 clearly indicates exclusion of a non-disclosed witness’s testimony is only one of the available sanctions.
The majority of the reported cases involving untimely witness disclosure involve tardy disclosures by the State. In many of those, the witness is allowed to testify or the evidence is introduced despite the State’s violation of Rule 25.05. In the vast majority of those cases the decision has been upheld as within the trial court’s discretion. Frequently, the trial court in those cases has permitted the defendant to interview the witness and in some cases depose the witness. More rarely, in some cases a short continuance has been granted to permit the defendant to prepare for the unanticipated testimony. Central to the exercise of the trial court’s discretion is a consideration of all of the circumstances. But particularly essential is an analysis of the potential prejudice to the party who has not received timely disclosure. The same principles of analysis and discretion apply where the defendant has violated the disclosure rule.
“[Rjefusal to allow testimony in a criminal case is a ‘drastic remedy.’ ” State v. Anderson, 18 S.W.3d 11, 16 (Mo.App.2000) (citing State v. Mansfield, 637 S.W.2d 699, 703 (Mo. banc 1982)). In Anderson, the defendant had failed to provide notice of intent to rely on an alibi defense as also required by Rule 25.05. The court refused to permit the defendant to testify about his specific whereabouts and time and place, allowing only defendant’s testimony that he was not at the scene and did not commit the crime. On appeal, we affirmed but discussed the better procedure that should have been followed by the trial court. Judge Smart wrote:
The court, in considering a request for sanction for failure to disclose an alibi, should consider all of the pertinent circumstances, including any prejudice to the state from failure to make disclosure. In this case, when the state moved for sanction, it would have been more appropriate for the court to inquire more specifically of the defense exactly what testimony the defendant intended to present as to his whereabouts, including the specific location, the identity of other persons present and the nature of any corroboration to be offered. The court could then have inquired of the state what it would have differently if it had received seasonable notice. If the court had determined that any prejudice to the state was negligible, the court would, in our view, have done well to deny the request for sanction altogether.
Id. (emphasis added).
Here, it seems obvious that the assistant prosecuting attorney took the erroneous view that violation of the disclosure rule automatically entitled the State to exclu*233sion of the witness. The defense suggested that the State could privately interview the witness. Neither the State nor the court took up that offer. After the judge indicated he was likely to impose the exclusion sanction, the defense made an offer of proof through the witness. Even then, the prosecuting attorney refused an offer to cross-examine the witness. The defense suggestion that the prosecutor be given some time to consider her questions or difficulties in preparing for the witness if allowed to testify was not responded to by the State or court.
In short, neither the State nor the trial court gave any apparent consideration to the issue of prejudice to the State. Although the trial court, after careful consideration, ultimately concluded that there was no fundamental unfairness to the defendant from the exclusion of the witness (a conclusion with which I agree as discussed later), such consideration was not the proper focus. The initial consideration should have been whether the State would be prejudiced by permitting the witness to testify and not whether the defendant would be prejudiced by imposition of the sanction. The distinction is important because where the prejudice to the State is non-existent or negligible the imposition of the most serious sanction of witness exclusion is not appropriate. Id.
Whether and how to sanction for nondisclosure is discretionary. Any statement that an issue is for the exercise of discretion implies that there is no single right answer. Although it may be presumed in some situations that a trial court has acted with discretion, in others, including this one I suggest, the record should directly reflect the consideration and exercise of discretion, for example, where the trial court indicates it has considered various alternatives or the record should contain sufficient information to demonstrate a basis for the trial court’s choice of discretionary answers to the question. Here, the record contains neither. And, most importantly, the record contains neither claim by the State nor inquiry by the court as to any prejudice to the State. Given those circumstances, I do not believe that the record contains a proper basis for the exercise of the trial court’s discretion to exclude the defendant’s witness.
Nevertheless, I agree that the conviction should be affirmed. Ultimately the test on appeal where either sanction is imposed or denied is whether the ruling resulted in fundamental unfairness to the suffering party. Mansfield, 637 S.W.2d at 703. The trial court indicated it was dubious whether the proposed testimony was really impeaching of Officer Nathan. The proposed witness could not identify or exclude Allen as the driver of the vehicle. She indicated that the scene was “loud,” which Nathan had not denied. The witness said that Nathan appeared “agitated” after a high-speed chase through a residential neighborhood. He said that he was probably “excited.” She testified that the three occupants of the car were “cursing.” Nathan described various levels of cooperativeness and mouthing by the three. He indicated that because of the difficulty in getting the occupants to do as directed that he and the other officers might have been loud and appeared to be yelling. Although the witness indicated that she was concerned about the matter escalating to violence, nothing physical occurred and she could not remember anything in particular said by anyone, including Officer Nathan. That the witness perceived the atmosphere as tense does not necessarily contradict the view of a police officer frequently confronted with similar situations. And, very importantly, she never testified that Nathan was “angry,” that characterization came only in defense counsel’s argument. That is not to say that the testi*234mony of Ms. Gray would have not been admissible impeachment of Nathan if she had been properly endorsed. It does lead to the conclusion, however, that no fundamental unfairness resulted to the defendant from the exclusion of her testimony.
Two other factors lead to the conclusion that the court’s ruling did not undermine the validity of Allen’s conviction. Although it would be improper for this court to supply the State’s prejudice claim from late disclosure to affirm the conviction, it is apparent that the State could have argued prejudice by the denial of any opportunity to investigate or rebut Gray’s testimony. In the offer of proof, she identified other potential witnesses by name. Because of the late disclosure, only after all other defense witnesses had testified, the State did not have the opportunity to seek other witnesses that she identified. Although the defendant argues that the State could have gone out on its own and discovered Ms. Gray and others after the other officers’ depositions, this was not like those cases where the State knows or should know of the identity of non-disclosed witnesses and takes no action. See, for example, State v. Kimmell, 720 S.W.2d 790 (Mo.App.1986).
Finally, the record leads to some suspicion that counsel for defendant considered the Rule 25.05 disclosure requirement and made a conscious decision (and possibly a strategic one) not to disclose in rebanee upon claimed local custom to permit defendants to introduce impeachment evidence in surrebuttal. Defendant makes no argument now that the witness should have been allowed to testify or surrebuttal and could not. See State v. Garrett, 682 S.W.2d 153, 156 (Mo.App.1984).