THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
ISRAEL MATOS, APPELLEE
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Florida appeals a trial court's order dismissing a cocaine trafficking information based on the State's discovery violation involving a confidential informant. The appellate court reverses, holding that dismissal was an improper sanction because the State's conduct was inadvertent mistake rather than willful noncompliance or calculated official ignorance.
The trial court erred in dismissing the information. Dismissal as a sanction is warranted only where the State's failure to comply with an order to produce a confidential informant arises from willful noncompliance, calculated official ignorance, or deliberate intentional activity. Here, dismissal was improper because the State did not seek to prevent disclosure, its conduct was inadvertent rather than calculated, and it cannot be charged with the witness's subsequent disappearance.
[1] Dismissal of an information is an extreme sanction that is not warranted when the State's discovery violation is inadvertent and not calculated to prevent a witness's dep…
[2] A trial court may impose dismissal as a sanction for the State's failure to produce a confidential informant only when such failure arises from willful noncompliance, cal…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The sanction of dismissal may be imposed where the failure of the State to comply with an order to produce a confidential informant arises from the State's willful noncompliance, calculated official ignorance, or deliberate intentional activity.”
Establishes the legal standard for when dismissal as a sanction is appropriate in discovery violations involving confidential informants.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIsrael Matos and a codefendant were charged with cocaine trafficking. Matos' counsel subpoenaed a confidential informant for a deposition at the State…
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PER CURIAM.
The State appeals from an order dismissing an information. For the following reasons, we reverse.
Israel Matos and a codefendant were charged with trafficking in cocaine. Ma-tos’ counsel subpoenaed the confidential informant for a deposition, scheduled to take place at the State Attorney’s office. The informant appeared as scheduled, but requested the presence of a State Attorney. The prosecutors handling the Matos case were in the middle of a trial and sought to have the deposition rescheduled. The State Attorney’s office contacted the Public Defender’s office, which represented Matos’ codefendant. Counsel for codefendant had no objection to rescheduling the deposition but did not inform the State Attorney’s office that she had not been the one who had subpoenaed the witness in the first place. When Matos’ counsel arrived to take the informant’s deposition, he discovered that the State Attorney’s office had sent the witness home. The witness has since disappeared; attempts to locate him have been unsuccessful.
Matos’ attorney filed a motion to compel the State to produce the witness. The trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing on the matter and ruled that dismissal of the information was the only sanction available to rectify what it viewed as the State’s discovery violation. The trial court found that the State was “solely and completely at fault in this matter and it was their intentional activity in dismissing the wit ness from subpoena which has led directly to the prejudice to the defendant.1
The trial court erred in dismissing the information. “The sanction of dismissal may be imposed where the failure of the State to comply with an order to produce a confidential informant arises from the State’s willful noncompliance, calculated official ignorance, or deliberate intentional activity.” State v. Pautier, 548 So. 2d 709, 711-712 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989). The severe sanction of dismissal is not warranted here, as the State did not seek to prevent disclosure of the informant and because its conduct was not calculated to prevent the witness’ deposition.
The record reveals that the State only sent the witness home after securing an agreement from the codefend-ant’s counsel to reschedule the deposition. Although the sequence of events shows that the State Attorney’s office made a mistake in contacting the codefendant’s lawyer instead of Matos’ lawyer, the mistake was clearly inadvertent.
Moreover, the State cannot be charged here with the disappearance of the witness. See State v. Mena, 505 So. 2d 681 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987) (dismissal of charges unwarranted where State had furnished name arid address of confidential informant; State could not be held responsible for defendant’s inability to procure the informer as defense witness).
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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State v. Rogel Vixamar, 687 So. 2d 300 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997)…eld that the sanction of dismissal was improper in light of the prosecutor’s exclusive discretion to decide whether a criminal case should be discontinued and in the absence of a procedural rule authorizing judicial intervention. See State v. Matos, 589 So. 2d 1022 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)(error to dismiss information where state inadvertently cancelled a deposition and defendant lost opportunity to question a material witness); State v. Conte, 516 So. 2d 1115 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)(dismissal not appropriate sanction fo…
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State v. T.G., 990 So. 2d 1183 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008)…standing that the motion follows alleged discovery violations by the state”) (citations omitted). . Naveira and Gilliam represent two of the many efforts to curb the use of dismissal of charges as a prosecutorial sanction. See also, State v. Matos, 589 So. 2d 1022, 1023 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991) (holding that dismissal of charges was an inappropriate sanction for the State's inadvertent mistake, which prevented the defense from questioning a material witness); State v. Pautier, 548 So. 2d 709, 712 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)…
Authorities Cited
- State v. Pautier, 548 So. 2d 709 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
- State v. Carmelo O. Mena, 505 So. 2d 681 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987)