RE: [AlpacaTalk] Re: for Libby
Hi John,,
Each side in a trial has a chance for discovery to find all relevant
material for their side of a case and also to see what the other side has
that it will use in court. Full disclosure is required by both sides.
Material that might be sensitive is usually given "protective orders" which
allow the judge to review before the other side gets it. The Judge can
redact as necessary. But a judge cannot on their own authority redact until
they are asked to review the material..if there is no motion it is merely
exchanged by the parties with a copy filed to the court so the court's
records are as complete as the parties' records.
Discovery exists within a court proceeding. Normally it consists of a
"sharing" of "all relevant information" which usually is defined by various
courts to include information which is requested and "is relevant or may
lead to relevant information"
that a matter may be fully investigated by all parties and discussed and
winnowed out in the hopes that through that investigation a great number of
matters will settle out before trial.
To that end, normal discovery in state and federal Municipal and Superior
courts usually includes Depositions, Interrogatories, Testimony under oath,
exchange of Witness and Document lists and the documents themselves.
Documents in this case would include written material, internet and email
documents, tapes, letters, recorded content, as well as in some instances
art or other physical existing relevant material..thus a picture whether
painted or photographed might be a document in some cases.
Other items and material can be subpoenaed.by Subpena Duces Tecum. which
means "bring it with you" to show the court.loosely translated.
There may be several successive rounds of discovery before matters move on
to the pre-trial motions phases and the phases where there is pre-trial
discussion and mediation.many courts now require this phase. Lots is being
done to avoid full trials where mediation or settlement conferences may take
the matter away from the trial calendar.
Each court varies these procedures to suit its forum and jurisdiction.
I'm giving you what most courts would call a "hornbook" view of the law.
Where information is sensitive as it was in your instance...then the
attorneys should have made a motion to have the materials reviewed in
camera..which means the judge looks at it and black marker's out the stuff
that there is no reason to disclose and lots of reason to keep safe. For
instance, the address of a victim of child abuse is not usually given to the
open court or the abuser's attorney..let alone the defendant. Likewise for
spousal abuse. If the attorneys here failed to act and someone was injured
because they did not do so...their status as officers of the court might be
attacked and their malpractice insurance should have had to pay up.
There are protections.
of them have time limits. You can't cry out if you failed to act in time,
is what the law says.
This stuff all started in medieval courts, but it is mostly common
sense.even if the language is archaic, the ideas are still mostly valid.
Best Regards,
Allison
From: AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
Behalf Of gatewayfarm
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 12:07 PM
To: AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
Subject: [AlpacaTalk] Re: for Libby
--- In AlpacaTalk@yahoogro
"Allison Moss-
Fritch" <aemoss17@..
>
> In this
case the valid laws which are limiting the reach of the agreement are
the laws on discovery in another court case.
I have neither time or interest in plowing through reams of documents
regarding this.
Perhaps, Allison, you could explain the process of discovery in a bit
more detail?
I have only limited experience with it, and in a completely different
setting. In Oregon a couple of years ago persons incarcerated for
identity theft were using discovery, under the guise of filing for
post conviction relief, to obtain all evidence related to their
original conviction. This resulted in non-redacted documents
containing their victims personally identifying information being
delivered to them in prison (including photocopies of checks, credit
cards, lists of names, birthdates and social security numbers, etc.)
which the inmates then bartered among themselves. The information
was then sent back out into the community where it was used by
organized groups to - you guessed it, victimize the same people all
over again.
My wife and I were involved in passing legislation that prohibits
providing non-redacted documents to these felons.
It was a surprisingly difficult task to get this passed thorugh the
legislature. It turned out the biggest opponents to the legislation
were the newspaper editors, who feel they have the right to all
information, and felt that all information held by the government
should be public information.
In the end a rather toothless piece of legislation passed that failed
to define any penalty whatsoever for failure to comply with the new
law. At least one of the sponsors of the bill, however, told us that
the existence of the law would give victims some recourse to seek
civil penalties if they could prove the law had been broken.
So, with that background, how does discovery work? What exactly is
requested? By whom? What are valid purposes?
Inquiring minds, and all that...
John Merrell
Gateway Farm Alpacas
http://www.gatewaya
Alpaca, a natural elegance...
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posted by Chaddo at 1:14 PM
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