📄 Sidebar: expert witness discovery — Tuesday, March 14, 1995
Address:
C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\MAR\14\SIDEBAR-EXPERT-WITNESS-DISCOVE.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 37 of 167

Sidebar: expert witness discovery

Date: Tuesday, March 14, 1995 • Utterances: 4
Defense attorney Carl Douglas requests more time for expert witness disclosure under Penal Code 1054.7, asking for an in camera hearing Monday followed by immediate disclosure. Darden pushes back hard, noting they are two months into trial and still lack discovery they were promised. The judge cuts the debate short with a single-sentence deadline.
1 (THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS WERE HELD AT THE BENCH:)
2 MR. DOUGLAS:

YOUR HONOR, I'VE BEEN TALKING OVER THE LUNCH HOUR WITH MR. BLASIER AND MR. NEUFELD ABOUT THE COURT'S ORDER REGARDING EXPERT WITNESSES. AND BECAUSE OUR EXPERTS ARE IN DIFFERENT PORTIONS OF THE COUNTRY, WE WOULD LIKE SOME MORE TIME. SECOND, WE WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT THE MATTER TO THE COURT IN CAMERA BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY ORDER FOR DISCLOSURE UNDER 1054.7. WE WOULD ASK UNTIL MONDAY FOR THE IN CAMERA AND THEN THE END OF MONDAY, TUESDAY AT THE LATEST FOR THE DISCLOSURE. PROBABLY MONDAY FOR BOTH. WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE AN IN CAMERA ON MONDAY, THEN DISCLOSURE IMMEDIATELY THEREAFTER IF THE COURT PLEASES.

3 MR. DARDEN:

YOUR HONOR, THE COURT ISSUED AN ORDER. WE'RE ALREADY WHAT, TWO MONTHS INTO TRIAL. WE'RE STILL WAITING FOR DISCOVERY WE OUGHT TO HAVE. OPENING STATEMENT WAS DURING THE LAST WEEK OF JANUARY, AND WE STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN ANY INFORMATION. THE COURT ISSUED AN ORDER. I THOUGHT WE HAD AN AGREEMENT. THE COURT ISSUED ITS RULING. IT'S INHERENTLY UNFAIR TO CAUSE ANY ADDITIONAL DELAY. EXPERTS ARE COMING UP PROBABLY WITHIN THE NEXT 10 DAYS. WE NEED TIME TO READ THIS STUFF AND TO DIGEST IT. ANY ADDITIONAL DELAY IS UNFAIR AND IS GOING TO CAUSE DELAY IN PROCEEDING. THE COURT'S ALREADY RULED.

4 THE COURT:

YOU HAVE UNTIL NOON.

KEY QUOTE

Temperature

tense

Key Quotes (3)

Carl Douglas
WE WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT THE MATTER TO THE COURT IN CAMERA BEFORE YOU MAKE ANY ORDER FOR DISCLOSURE UNDER 1054.7.
Defense seeks to shield expert identities/opinions from prosecution until a private judicial review, a procedural maneuver to control the timing and scope of disclosure.
Christopher Darden
OPENING STATEMENT WAS DURING THE LAST WEEK OF JANUARY, AND WE STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN ANY INFORMATION.
Darden frames the delay as a pattern of bad faith, not a one-time scheduling issue — two months with zero defense expert disclosure.
Lance A. Ito
YOU HAVE UNTIL NOON.
Terse, decisive ruling that cuts off both sides — no in camera hearing granted, no open-ended extension, just a hard deadline.

Notable Exchanges (2)

Carl DouglasChristopher Darden
Douglas requests a multi-day extension with an in camera component; Darden counters that the court already ruled and any further delay is inherently unfair with experts expected within 10 days.
adversarial
Lance A. ItoCarl DouglasChristopher Darden
After both sides make their full arguments, the judge disposes of the entire dispute in four words.
decisive

Objections

None recorded
Proceeding 5287 • 4 utterances
Criminal Trial
Department 103
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📂 MAR 14, 1995 📄 Sidebar: expert witness discov
MAR 14, 1995 KRT DvH TD