State v. Reed-Hansen

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order of the trial court imposing a discovery sanction following the State's failure to provide Defendant with a dash-cam video of Defendant allegedly committing the crime for which he was charged, holding that a serious sanction was warranted and that the court's choice of sanction was well within its discretion.Defendant was indicted for operating after revocation. Defendant subsequently sent the State a discovery request letter requesting any video or audio that would have been created as part of the stop that led to Defendant's arrest. Although the State had access to the arresting officer's dash-cam video of the stop, the State failed to turn over the video, arguing that it had no "evidentiary value." The trial court ultimately granted Defendant's request to suppress the evidence as a sanction for the State's discovery violation. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that the court did not err in finding a discovery violation or abuse its discretion in selecting a sanction that effectively ended the prosecution. View "State v. Reed-Hansen" on Justia Law