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Crime Laboratory v. Blenden6/24/1999
d in the machine and turned it on. On March 21, 1996, the defense requested identification of the Chromatograph operator with the initials AMH. On March 28, 1996, during a pre-trial motion hearing, the State affirmatively represented that Hales (AMH) was not involved in testing Brandon's blood. The State stated that "Archie Hales, had nothing to do with the test of this." Although the trial court ordered the State to produce a Curriculum Vitae on Hales, it would be inane to require Brandon to pursue further discovery regarding Hales's involvement in testing his blood in light of the State's affirmative representations.
. Even assuming, arguendo, that the State did not act intentionally, it was at least negligent in failing to determine whether Hales had actually sampled Brandon's blood. "When counsel's carelessness causes his opponent to expend time and money needlessly, it is not an abuse of discretion for the court to require offending counsel to pay for his mistake." Vicksburg Refining, Inc. v. Energy Resources Ltd., 512 So. 2d 901, 902 (Miss.1987). See also Ladner v. Ladner, 436 So. 2d 1366, 1370-71 (Miss. 1983) (it is within the court's discretion to impose sanctions for discovery violations which result from willful neglect, willful disobedience or cause undue advantage and surprise). See generally Maine v. Mylon, 462 A.2d 1184, 1186 (Maine 1983) (holding that trial court has wide discretion in imposing sanctions for discovery violations in a criminal trial, even where the violation was not caused willfully); Maine v. Dionne, 505 A.2d 1321, 1324 (Maine 1986); Bankatlantic v. Blythe Eastman Paine Webber, Inc., 12 F.3d 1045, 1049 (11th Cir. 1994) (monetary sanctions may be imposed in a civil action for negligently violating discovery). Therefore, the trial court did not err in finding that the State violated discovery by failing to disclose Hales's involvement in testing Brandon's blood.
. Second, the trial court found that the State violated discovery by failing to provide Brandon with the names of all companies which had supplied the known standards to the crime lab. During the trial Howell testified that in calibrating the Chromatograph machine the Crime Lab sampled each concentration of known standard three times and that the samples for a given concentration was supplied by three different companies. The defense moved for a mistrial based on the grounds that information regarding the suppliers of known standards, which was requested prior to trial, had not been disclosed. The defense read a request for production to the trial court, which sought information regarding any of the Crime Lab's calibration procedures. The trial court asked Howell, without allowing him to explain, whether the request should have resulted in the production of the names of the suppliers of known standards. Howell answered affirmatively.
. The State argues that given a chance Howell would have explained that the request for production, when read in context, revealed that the defense was requesting information pertaining to a breath analysis machine, not information on the Chromatograph machine. The State is correct in claiming that the only "machine" referenced in the defense's request for production was a breath analysis machine, not the Chromatograph machine. In fact the defense only read a portion of the above request for production to the trial court. In the last sentence of the request the defense specifies that it is seeking information regarding Intoxilyzer machines.
. However, in a supplemental motion to produce the defense requested the production of documents relating to the calibration and repair history of any machines or instruments utilized in measuring Brandon's blood-a
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