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State v. West2/25/1992
(1989). Approximately one and one-half hours had elapsed from the time the women witnessed the accident to the time defendant was arrested.
On January 12, 1990, defendant was initially found guilty in a non-jury trial before a justice of the peace. Defendant appealed the case to District Court and was convicted by a six person jury on July 12, 1990. On September 5, 1990, defendant appealed his conviction. On January 30, 1991, we remanded the case to District Court because the court gave a jury instruction on mandatory conclusive presumption of intoxication which was contrary to our holding in State v. Leverette (1990), 245 Mont. 124, 799 P.2d 119. On April 9, 1991, defendant was tried and convicted of the same offense. On April 10, 1991, the court entered its judgment. Defendant was fined $300, given a six month suspended sentence, ordered to pay costs, and required to attend an alcohol treatment program. Defendant appeals the conviction and judgment of the District Court.
I
Whether the District Court erred when it denied defendant's motion in limine to prohibit two witnesses' testimony because the State failed to provide defendant with a copy of the statement of one of the witnesses.
On the morning of the second District Court trial, defense counsel filed a motion in limine to exclude the testimony of Jenrich and Lallatin because the State failed to produce a copy of Jenrich's written statement which was given to the sheriff's office on the night of the incident. The District Court denied the motion and ordered the State to question the witnesses as to whether either of them had a copy of any such statement. Jenrich testified that she had thrown away her copy and no statement was ever produced. Defendant argues that allowing the testimony of the two witnesses constituted prejudicial error.
Section 46-15-322(1)(a), MCA (1989), requires that the State disclose "a list of the names and addresses of all persons whom the prosecutor intends to call as witnesses in the case-in-chief, together with their relevant written or recorded statements." There is a continuing duty placed upon the prosecution throughout the course of the criminal proceedings to disclose relevant materials. Section 46-15-327, MCA (1989). The statutes go into effect when "the State actually develops the knowledge of a specific act, fact, or information that exculpates the defendant." State v. Shaver (1988), 233 Mont. 438, 447, 760 P.2d 1230, 1235.
This Court established the following standard for lost or destroyed evidence:
" hat when the State, due to negligence, loss, replacement or destruction, is unable to produce certain physical evidence in the prosecution of the case, reversal of a conviction is not necessary where the actual objects were not vital to the defense, were not exculpatory in nature, and the result would not have been affected by their introduction."
State v. Halter (1989), 238 Mont. 408, 412, 777 P.2d 1313, 1316 (citing State v. Ronald Lee Craig (1976), 169 Mont. 150, 545 P.2d 649).
In California v. Trombetta (1984), 467 U.S. 479, 488-89, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 2534, 81 L.Ed.2d 413, 422, the United States Supreme Court added the following:
"Whatever the duty the Constitution imposes on the States to preserve evidence, that duty must be limited to evidence that might be expected to play a significant role in the suspect's defense. To meet this standard of constitutional materiality [citation omitted], evidence must both possess an exculpatory value that was apparent before the evidence was destroyed, and be of such a nature that the defendant would be unable to obtain comparable evidence b
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