MARGARITO ALFARO A/K/A RUBIN MARTINEZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a manslaughter by drunken driving conviction because the state failed to disclose an accident reconstruction expert opinion from the county medical examiner before trial, and the trial court erred in admitting the evidence without conducting a mandatory discovery violation hearing.
The trial court erred by admitting the accident reconstruction expert opinion without conducting a Richardson hearing to determine what sanction, if any, should apply to the state's discovery violation. The conviction is reversed and the case is remanded for a new trial.
[1] A trial court commits error by admitting expert testimony when the state fails to disclose the expert's new opinion evidence to the defense prior to trial.
[2] Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.220 requires the state to furnish the defense with the reports or statements of experts on a continuing basis.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Rule 3.220 of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure requires the state to furnish the defense with the reports or statements of experts on a continuing basis.”
Establishes the foundational discovery obligation applicable to expert testimony.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant was charged with manslaughter in connection with a fatal accident. The critical issue at trial was whether appellant or his deceased compani…
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ANSTEAD, Chief Judge.
This is an appeal from multiple convictions of manslaughter by drunken driving. We reverse because of the state’s last min ute decision to use the county medical examiner as an accident reconstruction expert without informing the defense, and the trial court's subsequent error in admitting this evidence without conducting a mandatory hearing on the state’s breach of the discovery rules. We reverse and remand on the authority of Neimeyer v. State, 378 So. 2d 818 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), which decision we hereby approve and endorse.
Rule 3.220 of the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure requires the state to furnish the defense with the reports or statements of experts on a continuing basis. Richardson v. State, 246 So. 2d 771 (Fla.1971), strictly requires the trial court to conduct a mini-hearing at trial if a discovery violation is alleged and to determine what sanction, if any, including possible exclusion of the evidence or mistrial, may be appropriate. Neimeyer held that it was error for a trial court to refuse to conduct a Richardson inquiry at trial when the state attempted to use the expert testimony of an assistant medical examiner at trial to prove matters other than those previously disclosed to the defense through the examiner’s report and deposition.
The critical issue at trial was whether the appellant or his deceased companion was driving the vehicle. The defense had the medical examiner’s report and deposition which indicated the results of several autopsies and blood alcohol tests, but did not reflect any effort by the examiner to evaluate the case as an accident reconstruction expert. Shortly before trial, the state, without notifying the defense, had the examiner do an accident reconstruction evaluation which pinpointed the appellant as the driver of the vehicle responsible for the horrible accident which resulted in three deaths. The medical examiner was allowed to give his expert opinion on this issue even though there had been no disclosure to the defense of this evidence before trial. This appears to be a clear violation of the criminal discovery rules and yet no inquiry was conducted as to the violation. The state was not called upon to explain its failure to disclose the expert’s new opinion evidence or to otherwise carry its Richardson-mandated burden of demonstrating no prejudice to the defense. This was done over the objection of the defense and in the face of a specific request for a Richardson hearing.
This scenario offers the perfect example of why the Florida Supreme Court adopted the rule of Richardson: The defense is suddenly faced with critical evidence to which it has little or no opportunity to respond. This is contrary to the entire scheme of Florida’s criminal discovery rules which seek to enforce the defendant’s due process right to know in advance the nature of the charges and the evidence against him.
The Florida Supreme Court has held, of course, that the district courts have no discretion and must order new trials under such circumstances without regard to the harmless error rule. Cumbie v. State, 345 So. 2d 1061 (Fla.1977). Because of the critical nature of the evidence in question, we could hardly apply the harmless error rule to the facts of this case, even if we were authorized to do so.
Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial.
HURLEY and WALDEN, JJ., concur.
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Scipio v. State, 928 So. 2d 1138 (Fla. 2006)…tantamount to providing no discovery at all.” Id.; see also Neimeyer v. State, 378 So. 2d 818, 821 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979) (State had duty to disclose change in testimony by medical examiner who had given prior statement and deposition); Alfaro v. State, 471 So. 2d 1345, 1345-46 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985) (State violated discovery rules by not informing the defense that the medical examiner performed last-minute reconstruction analysis). [*1144] PURPOSE OF DISCOVERY Importantly, this Coúrt has consistently held that “Flo…
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State v. Evans, 770 So. 2d 1174 (Fla. 2000)…that the state’s failure to inform the defense of the new [*1182] information until the eve of trial was a violation of the discovery obligations imposed on the state by Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.220(f). Id. at 821; cf. Alfaro v. State, 471 So. 2d 1345, 1346 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985) (endorsing opinion in Neimeyer in holding that State committed discovery violation by not disclosing to the defendant that county medical examiner performed last-minute accident reconstruction). Consistent with the decisio…
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Williams v. State, 513 So. 2d 684 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)…iams’s convictions without further review of the record. Smith v. State, 500 So. 2d 125 (Fla.1986); Cumbie v. State, 345 So. 2d 1061 (Fla.1977); R.R. v. State, 476 So. 2d 218 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), approved, 502 So. 2d 1244 (Fla.1987); Alfaro v. State, 471 So. 2d 1345 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985), review denied, 484 So. 2d 9 (Fla.1986). Consequently, we need not reach any of the other points raised in this appeal. Accordingly, the judgments under review are Reversed and this case is remanded for a new trial. In all other…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Richardson v. State, 246 So. 2d 771 (Fla. 1971)
- Cumbie v. State, 345 So. 2d 1061 (Fla. 1977)
- Neimeyer v. State, 378 So. 2d 818 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979)