(Download) "People V. District Court Of El Paso County" by Colorado Supreme Court * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People V. District Court Of El Paso County
- Author : Colorado Supreme Court
- Release Date : January 23, 1990
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 65 KB
Description
In this original proceeding under C.A.R. 21, we issued a rule directing the respondent, El Paso County District Court,*fn1 to show cause why a writ should not issue determining that the district court abused its discretion in ordering certain discovery and in disqualifying the entire District Attorney's Office for the Fourth Judicial District from participating in People v. Richard Allen Fink, No. 88CR2163. The district court disqualified the prosecutor in that case and all members of the district attorney's office after ordering the prosecutor to produce and decipher notes from an interview of the complaining witness conducted by him in preparation for trial, submit to an interview by defense counsel and be endorsed as a witness for the defense. The district court's actions were based on defense counsel's argument that under former Crim. P. 16(I)(a)(1),*fn2 a prosecutor who takes a witness statement during an interview conducted in preparation for trial incurs an obligation to disclose the statement, whether exculpatory or inculpatory, to the defense. We disagree with the standard applied by the district court in determining whether a prosecutor's notes of witness interviews need be disclosed, and remand the case for reconsideration under the proper standards. We also vacate the court's order to disqualify the entire district attorney's office and direct the district court to reconsider the disqualification motion after it resolves the disclosure issue.