People v. Greenfield

722 N.W.2d 254, 271 Mich. App. 442
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 29, 2006
DocketDocket No. 264879
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 722 N.W.2d 254 (People v. Greenfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Greenfield, 722 N.W.2d 254, 271 Mich. App. 442 (Mich. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

ON RECONSIDERATION

Before: MURRAY, RJ., and CAVANAGH and SAAD, JJ.

SAAD, J.

The prosecution appeals by leave granted the circuit court’s order that affirmed the district court’s suppression of evidence of two DataMaster breath aleo[444]*444hoi test results as a discovery sanction and that excluded the results from trial. We reverse.

I. NATURE OF THE CASE

The district court’s discovery order required the prosecution to produce a booking videotape of defendant’s DataMaster breath tests, and the court issued a discovery sanction for the prosecution’s failure to comply with its order. These orders raise two legal issues under Michigan’s reciprocal criminal discovery rule, MCR 6.201: Is the videotape the type of discovery expressly permitted under MCR 6.201 and, if not, may the trial court order the discovery of such material absent a showing of good cause?

We hold that the district court and circuit court erred because (1) our Supreme Court has clearly held that discovery in criminal cases is governed by MCR 6.201, (2) the subject matter of the district court’s discovery order, the booking room videotape, does not come within the class of discoverable material permitted by the rule, and (3) defendant failed to establish “good cause” for the discovery under MCR 6.201(1). Therefore, because the district court erred as a matter of law in ordering this discovery, it abused its discretion when it suppressed the test results as a discovery sanction. Accordingly, we reverse the circuit court’s affirmance of these rulings and its order that excluded the test results from trial.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On September 29, 2004, defendant nearly collided with an Oakland County Sheriffs patrol car at an intersection in Oakland Township. Sergeant Anthony Spencer stopped defendant and issued him a citation for [445]*445his failure to yield the right of way Defendant admitted that he had recently consumed “a beer,” and the officer observed that defendant appeared flushed and that his eyes were glassy. Accordingly, another Oakland County Sheriffs officer, Deputy Michael Marohn, administered a preliminary breath test, and, on the basis of the test result, the officers arrested defendant for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor (OUIL).

The deputy sheriffs drove defendant to the Rochester Police Department and took him to the booking room. Deputy Marohn then read defendant his chemical test rights, watched defendant’s conduct for 20 minutes, and conducted two DataMaster breath tests. The tests showed that defendant had a breath alcohol content of 0.11 grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath. Deputy Marohn also observed that defendant’s speech was impaired, that his eyes were glassy and bloodshot, and that he smelled of intoxicants. Thereafter, the prosecution charged defendant with OUIL, third offense, a felony pursuant to MCL 257.625(1) and (9).

Unbeknownst to the Oakland County deputy sheriffs, the Rochester Police Department had recently equipped its booking room with a video recording system that was designed to turn on and record when motion sensors detected someone in the room. The system operated on a continuous loop, and, when the tape was full, the system automatically recorded over previous video. Certain testimony suggested that the video system did not work properly at the time of defendant’s arrest and that the system may have recorded over the tape of defendant’s booking as early as two days after the booking, but other testimony indicated that the system may not have recorded over the tape of defendant’s booking for approximately two [446]*446weeks. In other words, the record evidence is inconclusive about when the recording of defendant’s chemical breath tests may have been erased.

On October 5,2004, defense counsel sought discovery from the prosecution of numerous items of evidence, including “[a]ny videotapes or audio recordings made of the stop, investigation, arrest and post-arrest activity including the booking procedure, advice of rights, and chemical testing.” The record reflects that, within five days of defense counsel’s request, the assistant prosecutor asked the police department to turn over the Data-Master logs and any in-car video that might exist, but, because she was unaware of the booking room video, she did not ask for a booking video. Indeed, it is undisputed that neither defense counsel nor the prosecution, nor even the Oakland County Sheriffs office, learned of the possible existence of a recording from the booking room until defendant’s preliminary examination on November 2, 2004.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
722 N.W.2d 254, 271 Mich. App. 442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-greenfield-michctapp-2006.