State v. Loyd

574 P.2d 1325, 118 Ariz. 106, 1978 Ariz. App. LEXIS 400
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJanuary 19, 1978
Docket2 CA-CR 1050
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 574 P.2d 1325 (State v. Loyd) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Loyd, 574 P.2d 1325, 118 Ariz. 106, 1978 Ariz. App. LEXIS 400 (Ark. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

*108 OPINION

HATHAWAY, Judge.

Appellant Jesse Loyd was charged with attempted escape from a prison camp, the Fort Grant Training Center, in violation of A.R.S. § 13-395. He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to a consecutive prison term of not less than two years and not more than thirty months.

Around 8 p.m. on April 27, 1976, Officer Fair, on guard duty at Fort Grant, was stationed in an area where inmates were not allowed to go without risking being placed on escape status. A wall two and a half feet in height with a red line down the center marked the boundary of the restricted area. Fair heard the sound of running footsteps, then saw appellant and another inmate, Green, jump the wall. When both had moved beyond the wall, he ordered Green to freeze.

Appellant and Green were taken to the yard office, separated, and questioned by Graham, Captain of Security, after being given the Miranda warnings. Two other prison security men, Hundley and Herbert, were present while appellant was questioned. At his trial, Graham, Hundley and Herbert all testified that appellant admitted he was escaping. He stated that someone was waiting in a car to pick them up, and they planned to go to Texas or California to start a new life.

The first issue raised by appellant is whether the trial court abused its discretion in granting the state’s motion to quash subpoenas duces tecum. The trial was set for November 17, 1976. About a week before trial, appellant was interviewed in the Safford County Jail by two Department of Public Safety officers. Appellant contacted his attorney who shortly thereafter learned that DPS was conducting an investigation of Fort Grant. On November 12, 1976, he caused subpoenas duces tecum to be issued to three DPS officers requesting their appearance at trial and the production of “Any and all books, papers, documents, or tangible things relating to the pending investigation of Fort Grant Minimum Security Prison and particularly relating to the pending investigation allegedly involving wrongdoing by Fort Grant Corrections Officers.”

Appellee filed a motion to quash the subpoenas duces tecum on the ground that none of the materials contained therein was .relevant to the trial. On November 16, 1976, a hearing was had on the motion to quash, and it was denied. The court, however, ordered Sergeant Hawley of DPS, supervisor of the investigation, to appear the next morning with the report so the court could review it.

On November 17, 1976, appellant made motions for a continuance, pursuant to Rule 8.5, and for production of the report, pursuant to Rule 15.1, Arizona Rules qf Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S. The trial court recessed the proceedings, and with both attorneys present conducted an informal discussion of the DPS report. Four DPS officers, including two witnesses the state would call at trial, Hundley and Graham, were placed under oath and asked if any disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against them as a result of the investigation. All four responded in the negative. Sergeant Hawley then testified under oath that as supervisor of the investigation, he had reviewed the report and there was nothing to indicate that any disciplinary proceedings had been initiated against anyone in .connection with the report.

He testified that he sent two officers to the jail to interview appellant after receiving an anonymous telephone call that appellant knew where the bodies of two individuals from Fort Grant were buried, but the information obtained from appellant was of such little use that the officers did not even make a record of this interview. Nor was appellant’s name mentioned in any other part of the DPS report.

Appellant’s attorney then avowed to the court that appellant was present during an incident involving Graham and an inmate named Kennedy when Graham allegedly took aggressive action toward Kennedy or his property. Both attorneys were permitted to read about the Kennedy incident in *109 the report. Appellant’s attorney was not, however, allowed to read any other part of the report. The trial court then granted the state’s motion to quash.

Rule 15.1(e) provides in part:
“Upon motion of the defendant showing that he has substantial need in the preparation of his case for additional material or information not otherwise covered by Rule 15.1, and that he is unable without undue hardship to obtain the substantial equivalent by other means, the court in its discretion may order any person to make it available to him.” (Emphasis added)

A ruling by a trial court under Rule 15.1(e) will not be modified in the absence of a clear abuse of discretion. State v. Birdsall, 116 Ariz. 196, 568 P.2d 1094 (App.1977); State v. Piper, 113 Ariz. 390, 555 P.2d 636 (1976); State v. Kevil, 111 Ariz. 240, 527 P.2d 285 (1974).

In State ex rel. DeConcini v. Superior Court, In And For Pima County, 20 Ariz. App. 33, 509 P.2d 1070 (1973), where a criminal defendant charged with obstructing justice sought for possible impeachment purposes all internal affairs records of the Tucson Police Department concerning four police officers who were to be witnesses for the prosecution, we stated:

“Exercise of judicial discretion, however, is circumscribed by the reasonableness of the request since mere ‘fishing expeditions’ are not to be countenanced. [Citation omitted] There are many matters contained in the files of these officers which have absolutely no bearing on the issues in this case.” 20 Ariz.App. at 35, 509 P.2d at 1072.

We find that no abuse of discretion has been shown here. Appellant contends he was interviewed in connection with the DPS investigation as a potential witness against Fort Grant corrections officers, and he needed access to the report to develop information showing bias, hostility, or motive on the part of the officers who were scheduled to testify for the state. Appellant’s request in the subpoenas duces tecum for all information relevant to the DPS report was overbroad and unreasonable.

In DeConcini, supra, rather than endorse carte blanche access to the police records, we directed the trial court to modify its order of production:

“. . . so as to limit it to Internal Affairs Records of the Tucson Police Department concerning the fact, nature, and outcome of disciplinary actions with respect to the four officers, affording the Department the right to delete in some manner the identify of complainants or references to irrelevant matters.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
574 P.2d 1325, 118 Ariz. 106, 1978 Ariz. App. LEXIS 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-loyd-arizctapp-1978.