State v. Bray

422 P.3d 250, 363 Or. 226
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 5, 2018
DocketCC 11FE1078; SC S064843 (Control, S064846))
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 422 P.3d 250 (State v. Bray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bray, 422 P.3d 250, 363 Or. 226 (Or. 2018).

Opinion

In this case, the SCA makes internet information confidential and does not permit Google to disclose it to district attorneys on request. Issuance of process, such as a subpoena, search warrant, or SCA order, is required.9 Therefore, in this case, ORS 135.815(1)(a) did not require the state to obtain, or the trial court to order the state to obtain, J's internet searches.

Defendant's next argument is that, even if ORS 138.815(1)(a) did not require that assistance, due process did. Due process undoubtedly requires the government to turn over evidence in its possession that is both favorable to the accused and material to guilt or punishment. United States v. Agurs , 427 U.S. 97, 104 n. 10, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed. 2d 342 (1976) ; Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed. 2d 215 (1963). However, defendant argues, citing Pennsylvania v. Ritchie , 480 U.S. 39, 107 S.Ct. 989, 94 L.Ed. 2d 40 (1987), due process also requires a court to assist defendants in obtaining documents held by third parties in additional circumstances.

**237In Ritchie , the defendant had been accused of child abuse and had subpoenaed information from a state protective service agency, Children and Youth Services (CYS). Id. at 43, 107 S.Ct. 989. CYS refused to comply with the defendant's subpoena, and the trial court refused to order it to do so. Id. at 43-44, 107 S.Ct. 989. The Supreme Court began by reciting the due process principle that "the government has the obligation to turn over evidence in its possession that is both favorable to the accused and material to guilt or punishment," but it then considered whether the trial court was required to assist the defendant in obtaining records that were not in the prosecution's possession . Id. at 57-58, 107 S.Ct. 989 (emphases added). The Court answered that question affirmatively, concluding that the defendant's right to a fair trial entitled him to "know whether the CYS file contains information that may have changed the outcome of his trial[.]" Id. at 61, 107 S.Ct. 989. The Court recognized that, because the defendant had not yet reviewed the CYS records, it was not possible to say, with certainty, that they would contain material information and that requiring disclosure to make that determination arguably would intrude on the state's interest in confidentiality. Id. at 57, 107 S.Ct. 989. However, the Court also noted that a Pennsylvania statute permitted CYS to disclose otherwise confidential information when required to do so by court order, and determined that the trial court's in camera review would provide sufficient privacy protection. Id. at 58-61, 107 S.Ct. 989.

From Ritchie , defendant argues that due process requires a court to assist a defendant in obtaining potentially exculpatory evidence, including by requiring a prosecutor to employ legal process to obtain such material. The state responds that Ritchie may require a court to enforce a defendant's subpoena, but it does not require or permit a court to compel a prosecutor to issue process to obtain evidence that is held by a third party and that the prosecutor has no constitutional duty to produce.

We agree that, on its facts, Ritchie does not go as far as defendant suggests. In Ritchie , the Supreme Court ordered the trial court to assist the defendant by enforcing his own subpoena. But that does not mean that due process and the right to adduce evidence necessary to a fair trial **238may not also require judicial or prosecutorial assistance in other circumstances. After all, courts must ensure that justice be done; a prosecutor is *260the " 'servant of the law' " and always must be faithful to that mandate. Agurs , 427 U.S. at 110-11, 96 S.Ct. 2392 (quoting Berger v. United States

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Bluebook (online)
422 P.3d 250, 363 Or. 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bray-or-2018.