State v. Kull

688 P.2d 1327, 298 Or. 38, 1984 Ore. LEXIS 1765
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 9, 1984
DocketB63-183; CA A27012; SC 29989
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 688 P.2d 1327 (State v. Kull) 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. Kull, 688 P.2d 1327, 298 Or. 38, 1984 Ore. LEXIS 1765 (Or. 1984).

Opinion

CARSON, J.

This case presents two questions involving Oregon’s pre-trial discovery statutes, ORS 135.805 - 135.873. First, when the state intends to offer a video tape in evidence at trial, may the trial court order that a usable copy of the video tape be provided to defendant, at her expense, where the state previously has allowed inspection of the video tape in a police officer’s presence? Second, may the trial court exclude admission of the video tape because the state failed to comply with the order? We answer both questions in the affirmative.

By written order, the trial court meticulously set forth its findings and conclusions in reaching the decision to exclude the video tape. The following summarization of the facts and the court’s ruling are taken from the court’s order.

In March 1982, defendant was charged with Second Degree Theft for allegedly taking money and property valued at less than $200 from the 7-Eleven store where she worked. In July 1982, defendant filed a motion for discovery, specifically requesting a copy of an eight-hour video tape made of defendant at work on the day of the alleged theft, for the purpose of copying it at her own expense. The state did not oppose the motion. Defense counsel renewed her request for a copy of the video tape on several occasions before the court and made 8 or 10 telephone calls to the district attorney requesting a copy of the video tape.

This video tape was unique in that it was made by a machine used by 7-Eleven and some other convenience stores and was incapable of being played on any standard video tape equipment. Sometime after the video tape in question was made, the original machine became unavailable. The police could find only one operating video tape player in the area which played 7-Eleven’s video tapes. This video tape player was owned by a competing convenience store which refused to allow defense counsel to use its equipment. No attempt was made to obtain a player from 7-Eleven’s regional office or elsewhere.

On September 8, 1982, defense counsel and defendant were allowed to view the video tape at the police station on the only available video tape player. A police officer was always present, so defendant and her counsel were unable to [41]*41confer privately about the activities depicted. Defendant and defense counsel left after two hours of viewing, preferring to wait until they had their own copy to view.

After two postponements, one at the state’s request to allow time to provide defendant with a copy of the video tape, trial was finally set for January 18,1983, and the hearing on defendant’s motion for discovery and other pre-trial motions was reset for January 10,1983.

Shortly before the January hearing date, the district attorney finally arranged to have an electronics store copy the video tape for defendant, using the equipment from the other convenience store. Defense counsel provided a conventional video tape recorder and 11 hours of blank tape.

On January 10,1983, eight days before trial, because no video tape had yet been provided defendant, defendant moved for sanctions against the state under ORS 135.865 for failure to provide a copy of the video tape. On that date the trial judge issued an ultimatum to the state that if a video tape were not made available to defendant by 9:00 a.m. of the next day, the court would exclude the original video tape from evidence, under ORS 135.865. On January 11, defense counsel received a copy of the video tape, but it was useless as it had been copied at a speed that condensed eight hours of video tape into two hours, and it was impossible to play the video tape at a slower speed. Apparently incorrect taping instructions had been communicated by the district attorney to the electronics store personnel. On January 12, 1983, the trial court issued an order excluding the eight-hour video tape.

The reasons given by the trial court to justify this severe sanction can be summarized as follows:

1. Proper discovery, in this case, included the right to obtain a copy of the video tape, at defendant’s expense, for private viewing.

2. Defendant moved for discovery of the video tape in July 1982 and made repeated requests for it subsequent to that date. The state never opposed defendant’s motion.

3. Trial had been postponed twice, in part to allow time to provide defendant with a copy of the video tape; a third postponement was not justified.

[42]*424. Although defendant need not show actual prejudice in order to prevail on a motion for exclusion of evidence on the ground that discovery statutes were violated, defendant here was prejudiced because the state failed to comply with the court’s order to provide a copy of the video tape in usable form one week prior to the scheduled trial date.

5. There was a notable lack of diligence on the part of the state in complying with defendant’s discovery request, which compliance was the very reason the state asserted when it requested the first trial postponement.

The state appealed and the Court of Appeals reversed in a per curiam opinion, which stated, in toto: “The trial court’s order suppressing a videotape is reversed, and the case is remanded for trial.” 64 Or App 426, 667 P2d 1052 (1983).

TRIAL COURT SUPERVISION OF DISCOVERY

The resolution of the first question in this case is governed by the provisions of Oregon’s pre-trial discovery statutes. ORS 135.805(2) provides:

“As used in ORS 135.805 to 135.873, ‘disclose’ means to afford the adverse party an opportunity to inspect or copy the material.”

ORS 135.815 provides, in part:

“Except as otherwise provided in ORS 135.855 and 135.873, the district attorney shall disclose to the defendant the following material and information within his possession or control:
<<* * * * *
“(4) Any books, papers, documents, photographs or tangible objects:
“(a) Which the district attorney intends to offer in evidence at the trial * * *.”

ORS 135.845(1) provides:

“The obligations to disclose shall be performed as soon as practicable following the filing of * * * a complaint charging a misdemeanor * * *. The court may supervise the exercise of discovery to the extent necessary to ensure that it proceeds properly and expeditiously.”

The proposed Oregon Criminal Procedure Code of 1972 is the source of these statutes. The Commentary to [43]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Click
338 Or. App. 168 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2025)
State v. Divito
955 P.2d 327 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1998)
State v. Hervey
689 P.2d 1322 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
688 P.2d 1327, 298 Or. 38, 1984 Ore. LEXIS 1765, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kull-or-1984.