COLUMBUS - Members of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association have reached agreement on a proposal to adopt federal discovery rules for criminal cases, said Champaign County Prosecutor Nick Selvaggio, president-elect of the OPAA.
"Ohio's prosecutors have formulated a proposal that makes sense," he said Friday in an e-mail. "We have proposed using the same rule that the federal government must follow in all 50 states. Ohio's prosecutors have also agreed retain additional rights to discoverable material that currently exist and are available under Ohio's current criminal rule."
Discovery is the process of evidence disclosure. In criminal cases, prosecutors are required to provide discovery to defendants of evidence against them, and are governed by Ohio Criminal Rule 16. Selvaggio said representatives of the OPAA have been involved in lengthy discussions with defense lawyers this year to attempt to resolve differences over Criminal Rule 16. Some critics have argued that Ohio's rule is unfairly narrow in what it requires the state to provide to criminal defendants prior to trial, while prosecutors have argued that some restrictions are necessary to protect witnesses and to guard against perjured testimony.
"There's no reason that what works fairly in every federal court in America can't work right here in the state courts of Ohio," said John Murphy, OPAA executive director.
The federal discovery rule provides more information to defendants than the Ohio rule in that it allows access to secret grand jury testimony, imposes a greater duty on prosecutors to find and disclose prior criminal records to defense counsel, and provides a duty on both sides to provide summaries of expert reports.
In addition, the prosecutors propose to add extra protections for defendants that are not part of the federal rule, but that are currently included in the Ohio rule - specifically, to provide a
list of the prosecution's witness names and addresses, as well as statements given by co-defendants.
"The result of our proposal not only will expand what is available under the Ohio rule, but also essentially give state defendants even more protections that those given to individuals charged with federal crimes," Selvaggio said. "Victims and witnesses will also benefit by the proposed adoption, as prosecutors will still be able to retain the discretion to withhold contact information in cases where witness intimidation is applicable. The call for 'open file discovery' as proposed by opponents to Ohio's current criminal rule do not have protections for victims and witnesses subjected to intimidation."
Last week, the Associated Press reported that the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers had renewed efforts to get Ohio Criminal Rule 16 changed, with the support of Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer.
In addition to some prosecutors, police and crime victims are among those who opposed the change, arguing that releasing records and statements could endanger witnesses and victims and lead defendants to lie about that evidence.
"These changes to Ohio law will provide even more information to the defense, without putting victims and witnesses and the truth in harm's way," Murphy said. "It is our hope that our colleagues at the defense bar will accept our proposal so that it may be immediately submitted to the Supreme Court for consideration."
Breanne Parcels can be reached at bparcels@urbanacitizen.com
"Ads published on this site are not for republication in print or web media without the expressed written consent of both the advertiser and The Brown Publishing Company."
