State v. Stradley

899 P.2d 416, 127 Idaho 203, 1995 Ida. LEXIS 80
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJune 21, 1995
Docket20483
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 899 P.2d 416 (State v. Stradley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho 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. Stradley, 899 P.2d 416, 127 Idaho 203, 1995 Ida. LEXIS 80 (Idaho 1995).

Opinion

TROUT, Justice.

This appeal arises from a failure to comply with a discovery request and the subsequent sanctioning of this conduct. The trial judge imposed a monetary sanction of $1,781 against the public defender which was to be paid personally, and not out of the county public defender’s budget. At the sanction hearing, the public defender raised several objections to the sanction which were rejected by the trial court and from which he now appeals.

I.

BACKGROUND

Michael J. Wood (Wood), a public defender, represented Donnel “Bud” Stradley on a first-degree murder charge in which the state sought the death penalty. On February 10,1992, the Twin Falls County Prosecutor filed a written discovery request which requested Wood:

2. To provide the prosecutor’s office with copies of any results or reports of physical or mental examinations and scientific tests or experiments made in connection with this case, or copies thereof, within the possession or control of the defendant, which the defendant intends to introduce in evidence at the trial or which were prepared by a witness whom the defendant intends to call at the trial when the results or reports relate to testimony of the witness.

On September 29, 1992, during a hearing on a motion to suppress certain evidence, the trial judge determined that Wood had not fully complied with the prosecutor’s discovery request. At this hearing the prosecution moved to compel discovery and the trial judge directed Wood to provide all undisclosed reports or tests.

At trial, Wood still had not produced all tests requested by the prosecution and the prosecution therefore moved, on December 2, to exclude the defense witness who had administered the test, Dr. Hamilton. The test in question was the Woodcock-Johnson test which has two separate sections, one involving language ability and the other representing mathematical achievement. Although the defense conducted and turned over the mathematical portion of the Woodcock-Johnson test in a timely manner, it failed to do so with the language portion of that test.

In response to the prosecution’s request, Wood argued that he had not disclosed the language portion of the Woodcock-Johnson test because he felt to do so would violate Stradley’s Fifth Amendment rights. The trial judge refused to exclude the test results and ruled that, although I.C.R. 16(j) 1 allowed him to exclude the witness, Stradley’s right to a fair trial outweighed any consideration of excluding the witness. At the time the results were disclosed during trial, the judge stated that he thought his discovery order had not been complied with, and that this would be an appropriate ease for imposing sanctions. The judge gave the defense counsel an opportunity to respond by a motion to reconsider his ruling, but he ultimately concluded that sanctions were appropriate. The trial judge postponed imposing a sanction until a sanction hearing could be scheduled after trial.

*207 After the ruling on the Woodeock-Johnson test, but prior to the sanction hearing, it was discovered that Dr. Hamilton had conducted a new Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) test during the trial. Although the test was conducted on Sunday, November 29, the defense did not inform the prosecution of the re-testing until Wednesday, December 2. The prosecution thereafter spent the evening of December 2 analyzing the results of the Woodcock-Johnson test, and the new MMPI test, with then-expert, Dr. Beaver. That night Dr. Beaver informed the prosecution that interpretive results from the MMPI were missing. The prosecution demanded the results, but only received access to the report after cross-examination of Dr. Hamilton had begun. The record below indicates that Wood was sanctioned only for the failure to disclose the language portion of the Woodcock-Johnson test, and not for the failure to disclose the subsequently administered MMPI test and interpretive report.

Following the trial, the judge held a sanction hearing at which Wood offered further arguments. In addition to his Fifth Amendment argument, Wood asserted: 1) he had been denied due process; 2) the sanction was punitive rather than restitutionary; 3) the sanction amount was not supported by the record; and 4) the sanction would have a chilling effect upon the defense of the indigent. Subsequently, in his written objection to sanctions, Wood further argued that: 1) there had been no discovery violation; and 2) there was no authority for the imposition of monetary sanctions against an individual attorney. The prosecution testified at the sanction hearing that additional work had been necessary in order to react to the late disclosure of the test results.

After listening to both sides, the judge entered an order providing for a sanction in the sum of $1,781, which was to be paid by the public defender and not by the county taxpayers. In the course of making that ruling, the judge also outlined a course of conduct by the public defender winch he felt indicated that Wood’s conduct in refusing to turn over the test results was purely intentional and not due to any inadvertence or mistake. The trial judge believed all this behavior pointed to a deliberate violation of the discovery rule and court order.

The amount imposed by the judge was apparently related to the bill submitted by Dr. Beaver for his services on December 2 and 3. The prosecution submitted this bill as the amount necessary to compensate for the time spent assessing the belatedly disclosed tests. The judge ordered the money paid into the district court fund.

II.

ISSUES

The appellant presents the following issues for our determination on appeal:

(1) Whether there was a violation of I.C.R. 16 relating to discovery.
(2) Whether the public defender received sufficient notice and opportunity to be heard in order to satisfy the requirements of due process.
(3) Whether the sanction was punitive rather than restitutionary, requiring that it be handled as a contempt case rather than as a sanction for a discovery violation.
(4) Whether the trial judge correctly interpreted I.C.R. 16(g) as authorizing a sanction against the public defender personally, rather than requiring payment from the public defender’s fund.
(5) Whether the trial judge abused his discretion when imposing the sanction.
(6) Whether the sanction was actually void because of the chilling effect it would have on the defense of indigent clients by public defenders if they felt they might be subject to this type of assessment.
(7) Whether costs and attorney fees should be awarded on appeal.

III.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

An analysis of the trial court’s actions requires an overview of the standards of review associated with the imposition of sanctions. While we conduct a review of the record to determine if the finding of the trial court that there was a discovery violation is *208

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
899 P.2d 416, 127 Idaho 203, 1995 Ida. LEXIS 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stradley-idaho-1995.