📄 Witness ordering and Brady motion — Wednesday, September 6, 1995
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C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\SEP\6\WITNESS-ORDERING-AND-BRADY-MOT.DOC
TRIAL
▲ Day 148 of 167

Witness ordering and Brady motion

Date: Wednesday, September 6, 1995 • Utterances: 28
A brief end-of-day administrative session in which the defense arranged for witnesses to return the following morning and discussed the timing and scope of an upcoming Brady motion hearing. Judge Ito sought time estimates from both sides, with Clark arguing the hearing should take no more than half an hour and Shapiro warning of factual disputes between DA's office personnel and LAPD that could complicate matters.
1 (The following proceedings were held in open court:)
2 THE COURT:

All right. Back on the record. Mr. Shapiro or Miss Chapman, did you have some witnesses you wanted ordered back?

3 MR. SHAPIRO:

Yes, we do, your Honor. We have one witness who is in court, Detective Andrew Purdy, who is present with his counsel. We'd like him back for tomorrow.

4 THE COURT:

All right. Counsel, your name for the record?

5 MR. HADDEN:

William J. Hadden, your Honor.

6 THE COURT:

All right. Mr. Hadden, you and Mr. Purdy are ordered back tomorrow morning, 8:30.

7 MR. HADDEN:

Thank you, your Honor.

8 THE COURT:

All right. Thank you. You are excused.

9 MR. SHAPIRO:

Your Honor, we have three members of the District Attorney's office we'd like to have for testimony tomorrow that we've informed Mr. Hodgman of. We need not give their names tonight. And we have several other officers that Mr. Hodgman has been kind enough to accommodate us with but we have not had time to interview, and we would like to give you that list, but not in open court. We have no other witnesses in court. Is that correct, Mr. Hodgman?

10 MR. HODGMAN:

Yes.

11 MR. SHAPIRO:

We would like to give you that list.

12 THE COURT:

What's your time estimate for your Brady motion?

13 MR. SHAPIRO:

Your Honor, we are still in the process of interviewing some of the witnesses. Mr. Purdy has been very, very cooperative. We have about another half hour with him, and we would like to interview the remainder of the witnesses today. I would be in a better position to give you that estimate tomorrow morning when Mr. Scheck, Miss Chapman and I have had a chance to assimilate all of the material.

14 THE COURT:

All right. So what advice do you give the court on the question that weighs most heavily on my mind?

15 MR. SHAPIRO:

I would say that certainly no earlier than 10 o'clock, your Honor. I think by that time--

16 THE COURT:

I'm getting advice. All right. Miss Clark, what's your position?

17 MS. CLARK:

Your Honor, I think I've made it pretty clear. They've had six months to talk to these people and now they want more time. Another delay with this jury on ice again, it's so unnecessary. And as the court pondered--

18 THE COURT:

No. I'm just asking, do you have any estimate as to how long you think the hearing will take based upon what you know from the moving papers, who the witnesses are and what the issues are posed? I mean, do you just have a guess--I'm just inviting you to help me a little so we cannot keep the jurors too inconvenienced for too long. That's all I'm asking.

19 MS. CLARK:

Well, there's no testimony necessary on the motion, your Honor. Counsel can make their pitch to the court. The bottom-line issue of this I think comes back to what the Defense likes to characterize as a log, and that's--of officer Purdy and that's it. There is very little else to talk about, but it certainly does not require the testimony of witnesses. And if this hearing is conducted in that fashion, which is all that is required, then it should be done in about half an hour, because there is no exculpatory information that has not been turned over, Judge.

You know, the People in this matter turned over everything that came to them back in February as the court knows, submitted it to the court for examination, for IAD investigation, all of which was turned over to the court back in February of this year. So at this point, you know, the People have satisfied their obligations. There's nothing that we haven't done, and the court should be able to make that finding in about 2 minutes.

20 THE COURT:

All right. I'll guess an hour then.

KEY QUOTE
21 MR. SHAPIRO:

Your Honor, for the court's edification, ordinarily, the facts would not be in dispute when we're dealing with Deputy District Attorneys and members of the Los Angeles Police Department. However, we're in a paradoxical situation here where we have certain statements and one under penalty--a declaration that's been filed that has not been signed that indicates a certain set of facts from at least one and possibly two Deputy District Attorneys and a statement that we understand was given under oath in Internal Affairs, saying that the Deputy District Attorney was a liar from one of the members of the Los Angeles Police Department. If we could get a resolution of the facts with the help of the District Attorney's office, that would certainly move this proceeding along.

22 THE COURT:

All right.

23 MS. CLARK:

May I remind the court that it asks counsel to bring in their reports and notes to assist the court in determining what stage they were at, and I think the court asked them to do it last week. Was that turned over?

24 THE COURT:

Yes. Yes, it was.

25 MS. CLARK:

The People have not been furnished with any of that.

26 THE COURT:

All right. 10 o'clock with the jury. All right. Anything else. All right. We're in recess.

27 (At 4:15 P.M., an adjournment was taken until, Thursday, September 7, 1995, 9:00 A.M.)
28 (Pages 44179 through 44195, inclusive, sealed)

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (4)

Marcia Clark
They've had six months to talk to these people and now they want more time. Another delay with this jury on ice again, it's so unnecessary.
Clark's frustration captures the prosecution's running theme that defense Brady motions were dilatory tactics.
Robert Shapiro
We have a paradoxical situation here where we have certain statements and one under penalty--a declaration that's been filed that has not been signed that indicates a certain set of facts from at least one and possibly two Deputy District Attorneys and a statement that we understand was given under oath in Internal Affairs, saying that the Deputy District Attorney was a liar from one of the members of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Shapiro flags serious internal contradictions between DA personnel and LAPD witnesses that could animate the Brady hearing.
Marcia Clark
There is no exculpatory information that has not been turned over, Judge. You know, the People in this matter turned over everything that came to them back in February.
Clark preemptively argues the People have fully satisfied Brady obligations, framing the upcoming motion as meritless.
Lance A. Ito
All right. I'll guess an hour then.
Ito's dry response after soliciting estimates from both sides and receiving wildly divergent answers.

Evidence (4)

Informal
Officer Purdy's log, referenced by Clark as the central document at issue in the Brady motion
discussed
Informal
Unsigned declaration from at least one Deputy District Attorney containing disputed facts
discussed
Informal
Statement given under oath in Internal Affairs in which an LAPD officer called a Deputy DA a liar
discussed
Informal
Defense reports and notes submitted to the court per Ito's prior request
discussed

Notable Exchanges (2)

Lance A. ItoMarcia Clark
Ito clarifies he is not asking Clark to relitigate the Brady motion — only seeking a time estimate — and gently redirects her when she pivots to argument.
strategic
Robert ShapiroMarcia Clark
Shapiro discloses the Brady motion involves credibility conflicts between DA personnel and LAPD (one calling a DA a liar under oath in IAD), which Clark does not directly rebut.
revealing

Light Moments (1)

Lance A. Ito
After receiving a half-hour estimate from Clark and a more-time-needed non-answer from Shapiro, Ito simply says 'I'll guess an hour then.'

Credibility Attacks (1)

⚔ Deputy District Attorney (unnamed)
prior inconsistent statement / oath conflict
Shapiro reveals that an LAPD officer stated under oath in an Internal Affairs proceeding that a Deputy DA was a liar, creating a direct credibility conflict between prosecution personnel that the defense intends to exploit at the Brady hearing.

Objections

None recorded
Proceeding 7530 • 28 utterances
Criminal Trial
Department 103
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📂 SEP 6, 1995 📄 Witness ordering and Brady mot
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