Recent Feedback
i have questions about North Dakota court order for dispositional conference dated 7/10/2012.
item #1 says "Rule 16 discovery requests must be made within 10 days of the date of this Order." Item #2 says "Replies to Rule 16 discovery requests must be made within 20 days of the date of this Order". Item #3 says "Prosecution shall inform the defense of sentencing recommendation no later than 20 days from the date of this Order." Item #4 says "All discovery must be completed prior to the time set for the dispositional conference. I hand delivered a lengthy discovery request to the States Attorney on 7/19/2012. I have had no response to my request and many of the items requested are still outstanding. I had a short phone call with SA where she implied she would try to get some of the information I had requested. So far I have had no further communication from SA. DO I NEED TO MOVE THE COURT TO COMPEL THE SA TO RESPOND TO ITEMS 2 AND 3? Does item 4 mean that I cannot get any more evidence after the dispositional conference? I specifically want the records of the arresting officers involvement in any DUI arrests for 15 days prior to mine and 15 days after mine and also the officers service record regarding accomodations or disciplinary actions. I'm trying to find out how many of cases from his arrests have been dismissed.
p.s. to thelawman2 if you answer the question: we have exchanged communication about my issue previously. Customer service for this site has asked me to continue a thread with the same expert. Please dont use 'chat' to respond to my question. it doesnt work and causes me to have to repost another question which violates JustAnswers 'overuse' policy.
Optional Information: State/Country relating to question: North Dakota Already Tried: I have hand delivered my discovery request to the states attorney on 07/19/2012 and I have had a brief telephone conversation with states attorney.
You are entitled to that information and if the SA is the one that is refusing to turn it over you can make a motion to the court. You are still entitled to it after the dispositional hearing if the request was previously made and the SA should have responded beforehand. They cannot simply just wait until the dispositional conference and then say "too bad" you don't get it. I would ask the SA one last time and tell them that if you don't have it you will bring a motion to the court for the discovery
PLEASE NOTE: This is a PAID ANSWERING SERVICE. If I have answered all of your questions please press accept and rate my answer with a positive rating or I will not receive credit for my work. If you have additional questions please ask before leaving negative ratings Thank you
please DONT use chat. it doesnt work for me. it always shows everybody offline and forces me to 'repost' a question which gets me into trouble with JA.
I will switch us to Q&A :)
Experience: Criminal Defense and Family law Attorney serving California statewide
Our chat has ended, but you can still continue to ask me questions here until you are satisfied with your answer. Come back to this page to view our conversation and any other new information. What happens now? If you haven’t already done so, please rate your answer above. Or, you can reply to me using the box below.
the SA has not 'refused', she just hasnt responded. Previously her staff has said 'you have all that we have'. They have a 'standard' set of evidence that they collect. I am asking for much more than their standard package. What is the proper protocol? is a phone call to the SA in order?
If I need to file a motion, what is the timing?
another item in the Order for the conference says 'all motions have to be filed with the court previous to the conference'. Can that be correct? Sounds like I gotta present my case before it even goes to trial?
Generally the requirement of discovery is that they only have to turn over what they have. If they have given you all the information that they have then they are in compliance and I wouldn't recommend filing a motion. You could try giving them a phone call, however, a letter in writing would be better to secure a record of the request. List particularly what you are requesting. If it is evidence that they do not have such as the police officers' arrest that is generally a motion that is filed in the court. In CA this is known as a pitches motion. The SA will not have the information of the police officers records, you would need to file a motion with the court to see these types of records.
Thank you for switching to QA. I promise not to drag this out but if you would please humor me a little futher. i have done some reading about a Pitchess motion. what is the timing? Am I correct in assuming that it must be filed before the dispositional conference? How do i get the records of the DUI's the officer was involved in prior too and after my arrest? Is that the same as Pitchess information? He is a Highway Patrol officer so it could be in any number of counties. He is being less than truthful regarding his reason for the traffic stop. If he is mistaken concerning my case, I suspect he has been mistaken other times. How do I 'discover' this?
It would need to be filed at three weeks prior to the hearing date. You need to file it and then have it served on the state attorney generally, its three weeks, the court clerk could give you a better time line specific to that department. You would include the request for DUI investigations in your pitchess motion. It should be noted that this is a request and not always granted by the judge. The only other way is not through discovery but upon cross examination during trial.