State v. Palicki

650 N.E.2d 130, 99 Ohio App. 3d 143, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 5292
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in State v. Palicki. Read the opinion of the Court — 97 Ohio App. 3d 175
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided November 25, 1994·No. No. 94WD037.·Published

Opinion

Abood, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal by the state from a judgment of the Wood County Court of Common Pleas which granted appellee Kenneth Palicki’s motion to suppress the *144 statements made by him in a prior proceeding that are the subject of the perjury charge in these proceedings.

Appellant sets forth the following assignment of error:

“The trial court erred in granting the defendant’s motion to suppress for failure to provide defendant with evidence available to the state because evidence that would indicate the evidence in question was not required to be given was offered to refute such conclusion.”

The facts that are relevant to the issues raised herein grow out of a separate case that is not part of this appeal, in which appellee was charged with two drug offenses in the Perrysburg Municipal Court. On August 4, 1993, that case proceeded to hearing on appellee’s motion to suppress evidence that was seized from him in a search by troopers of the Ohio Highway Patrol. At the hearing appellee offered testimony as to certain extreme behavior by the troopers who conducted the search. Thereafter, the prosecutor introduced a videotape of the search, which directly contradicted appellee’s testimony. As a result thereof, on August 19, 1993, the Wood County Grand Jury returned the indictment in this case, which charged appellee with one count of perjury for “knowingly making a false statement under oath.” On December 15, 1993, appellee filed a motion in this case to suppress the testimony from the August 4, 1993 hearing. On April 11, 1994, a hearing was held on the motion to suppress. 1

In support of the motion appellee argued to the trial court that the videotape and his testimony should be suppressed because (1) the action of the troopers in the prior case constituted an invalid, warrantless search and seizure; (2) the perjury indictment was defective because it failed to allege that the statements were “material” as is required under R.C. 2921.11(B); (3) the statements were not material to either of the charges in the prior case or the motion to suppress hearing in which the statements were made; (4) the state violated Crim.R. 16 by not disclosing the existence of the videotape before he testified; (5) the prosecutor violated his own office’s “open-file” discovery policy; and (6) the prosecutor violated Brady v. Maryland (1962), 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215, and its progeny by not disclosing the tape. As to Brady, appellee argued that the videotape was exculpatory because it was material to his guilt or innocence and that his counsel would not have allowed him to testify if he had known about the tape. He further asserted that under United States v. Bagley (1984), 473 U.S. 667, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 87 L.Ed.2d 481, “materiality * * * cover(s) cases of prosecutorial failure to disclose evidence favorable to the defense regardless of whether the defense makes no request, a general request, or a specific request,” *145 and, therefore, the prosecutor had a duty to disclose this material information even though the defense had not requested it.

In response, the state agreed that it had learned of the videotape prior to the beginning of the hearing but did not disclose its existence or contents to appellee or his counsel until after appellee testified, but argued that, in the prior case, (1) defense counsel did not request discovery orally or in writing, (2) the prosecutor did not intend to use the videotape until after appellee perjured himself in the hearing, and (3) there was no material in the tape that was subject to disclosure pursuant to Brady.

On April 14, 1994, the trial court filed its judgment entry in which it found that the prosecutor’s nondisclosure of the videotape was improper under Brady and Bagley and granted the motion to suppress. In doing so the trial court quoted Bagley, stating:

“In determining whether the prosecution improperly suppressed evidence favorable to an accused, such evidence shall be deemed material if there is a reasonable probability that had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different. * * * This standard of materiality applies regardless of whether the evidence is specifically, generally, or not at all requested by the defense.” (Emphasis added.) Id., 473 U.S. at 682, 105 S.Ct. at 3383, 87 L.Ed.2d at 494.

The trial court found further that the nondisclosure of the tape “denied Defendant information regarding evidence in the hands of the prosecution necessary for the Defendant to make an informed decision with regard to his right to testify or not testify” and that, because appellee was not fully informed of the evidence that the prosecution possessed, his testimony was offered in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights.

It is from the trial court’s judgment that granted appellee’s motion to suppress the statements made during the August 4, 1993 hearing in the prior case that the state has filed this notice of appeal.

In support of its assignment of error the state argues that (1) in the prior case it was not required, under Crim.R. 16, to disclose the existence of the videotape prior to appellee’s giving his perjured testimony; (2) appellee did not object to the introduction of the videotape in the prior case and has therefore waived his right to raise such objections in this case; (3) there is no Fifth Amendment issue in this case because in the prior case appellee was not compelled to be a witness against himself but took the stand voluntarily to testify on his own behalf; and (4) once appellee took the stand and perjured himself, the prosecution was free to use the videotape to attack his credibility on cross-examination.

*146 Appellee responds that his trial counsel verbally asked for discovery in the prior case and the prosecutor violated his own “open file policy” by not disclosing the tape. Appellee also claims that the state had a duty to disclose the tape under Crim.R. 16(B)(1)(c) and that its failure to do so violated his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. As he did in the trial court, appellee relies on Brady and Bagley to support his argument that the state has a continuing duty to disclose any evidence to a defendant that is material to his guilt or innocence. He states that, as in Brady, prior knowledge of the tape would have affected his decision to testify at the hearing in the prior case and that that decision has a material effect on whether he can be found guilty of the perjury charge. He further argues that if evidence is material, under Bagley, it must be disclosed to the defendant whether or not it is requested.

While we agree that appellee has accurately set forth the law as articulated by the Supreme Court in Brady and Bagley, we do not agree that either case applicable to the facts of this case.

In

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

State v. Palicki, 650 N.E.2d 130, 99 Ohio App. 3d 143, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 5292 (Ohio Ct. App. 1994).

650 N.E.2d 130 (State v. Palicki) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
United States v. Bagley
473 U.S. 667 (Supreme Court, 1985)