Rita v. State

663 N.E.2d 1201, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 448, 1996 WL 183670
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 18, 1996
Docket71A03-9506-CR-185
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 663 N.E.2d 1201 (Rita v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rita v. State, 663 N.E.2d 1201, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 448, 1996 WL 183670 (Ind. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinions

OPINION

GARRARD, Judge.

John G. Rita was charged below with failure to stop at the scene of a fatal accident and with driving with a blood alcohol content (b.a.c.) in excess of .10%, resulting in the death of another person. Rita was acquitted of the second charge, but the jury was unable [1203]*1203to reach a verdict on the first charge. After the State filed an amended information, the trial court, pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 4(B)(6), certified four issues for interlocutory appeal, which we address as follows:

I. Whether the State's alleged failure to properly preserve or negligent destruction of material evidence denied Rita due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and Ind. Const. art. I, § 12.1
II. Whether the trial court erred in permitting the State to amend the information after the first trial.
III, Whether the trial court erred in allowing the State, but not the defense, to use subpoenas to take ex parte statements from witnesses.

FACTS

On November 13, 1998, Rita was driving a vehicle which struck and killed Mara Fox. The accident occurred at approximately 12:20 am. on a rainy and foggy evening. Rita failed to stop at the seene but did pull over a short time later. He and his passengers observed that the windshield had been fractured and that the right-front section of the car had been damaged. Rita returned to his apartment and fell asleep while his friends notified the police, and Rita was subsequently arrested. n

At trial, a key issue was the visibility of the fracture to the windshield. Three days after the accident, the prosecutor had the windshield removed from the vehicle without notice to Rita or the court. Rita learned of the removal a few months later when he sought to conduct various tests on the vehicle. As the windshield could not be replaced in the vehicle, this opportunity was lost. Over Rita's objections, the State was permitted to introduce as evidence at trial the windshield itself and several photographs taken before and after its removal. In its ruling denying Rita's motion to dismiss the information, the court stated in part:

[The decision to remove the windshield] does not in any way appear to have been done in bad faith. It was not expected to play a significant role in the way now contemplated by defendant for testing purposes. The defendant can perform many tests on a similar vehicle but not with a windshield damaged in exactly the same way.... [UJpon these facts there is not a denial of due process of law.

(R. 298-99). At trial, Rita was acquitted of the charge of causing a death while driving with a b.a.c. in excess of .10%, and the jury was unable to reach a verdict on the charge of knowingly leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Rita now brings this interlocutory appeal.

ISSUE I

Rita argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss and, alternatively, in refusing to exclude the State's evidence regarding the broken windshield and in refusing to give Rita's jury instruction regarding the windshield. We find no error.

The defendant in a criminal case has the right to examine physical evidence in the hands of the prosecution. Turnpaugh v. State, 521 N.E.2d 690, 692 (Ind.1988), citing Miller v. Pate, 386 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 785, 17 L.Ed.2d 690 (1967). The negligent destruction or withholding of material evidence by the police or prosecution may present grounds for reversal because it denies due process under the Fourteenth Amendment and the Ind. Const. art. I, § 12. Lee v. State, 545 N.E.2d 1085, 1089 (Ind.1989); Smith v. State, 586 N.E.2d 890, 893 (Ind.Ct.App.1992). However, in Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 109 S.Ct. 333, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988), the United States Supreme Court held that the failure of police to preserve potentially useful evidence was not a denial of due process of law absent the defendant's showing of bad faith on the part of the police. The Supreme Court indicated its unwillingness to read the fundamental fairness requirement of the Due Process Clause as imposing on police an undifferentiated and absolute duty to retain and preserve all material that might be of con[1204]*1204ceivable evidentiary significance in a particular prosecution. Id. at 58, 109 S.Ct. at 337.

Our supreme court has clearly stated that, absent a showing of bad faith on the part of the police, the failure to preserve evidence does not constitute a denial of due process of law. McGowan v. State, 599 N.E.2d 589, 594 (Ind.1992). Indeed, numerous Indiana cases have applied the bad faith requirement in cases involving the negligent destruction of evidence. See Bivins v. State, 642 N.E.2d 928 (Ind.1994), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 116 S.Ct. 783, 133 L.Ed.2d 734 (1996) (loss or destruction of audio tape recordings of defendant's interrogation, which would have provided material evidence, did not violate due process where defendant failed to demonstrate bad faith on the part of police in failing to preserve the tape); Nettles v. State, 565 N.E.2d 1064 (Ind.1991) (failure to preserve blood samples for defendant to test did not constitute denial of due process where there was no showing of bad faith); Vaughn v. State, 559 N.E.2d 610 (Ind.1990) (failure to preserve notebook which defendant alleged may have contained exeul-patory evidence was not reversible error where no showing of bad faith); Curry v. State, 643 N.E.2d 963 (Ind.Ct.App.1994), reh'g denied, trans. denied (State's destruction of adult diaper and laundering of undergarments did not violate due process where State did not perceive evidentiary value to the defense at time of destruction and there was no evidence of bad faith); Smith v. State, 586 N.E.2d 890 (Ind.Ct.App.1992) (tape recording of conversation which was lost and then found during trial did not result in reversible error where no bad faith shown on the part of police); Glasscock v. State, 576 N.E.2d 600 (Ind.Ct.App.1991), reh'g denied, trans. denied (hospital's destruction of blood samples did not present grounds for reversal where State did not possess the evidence and there was no showing of bad faith); Everroad v. State, 570 N.E.2d 38 (Ind.Ct.App.1991), aff'd in part, vacated in part on other grounds, (failure to establish bad faith resulted in no error when police failed to test seized contraband for fingerprints);

Here, there is no evidence that the prosecution's decision to remove the windshield was motivated by bad faith. Rather, it appears that the prosecution was attempting to preserve the condition of the windshield.

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663 N.E.2d 1201, 1996 Ind. App. LEXIS 448, 1996 WL 183670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rita-v-state-indctapp-1996.