State ex rel. George v. Jones, 20808

• Decision Date: 16 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 20808,20808
• Citation: 929 S.W.2d 256
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, ex rel. Robert E. GEORGE, Prosecuting Attorney of Lawrence County, Missouri, Relator, v. Honorable Samuel C. JONES, Associate Circuit Judge, Lawrence County, Missouri, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 256

929 S.W.2d 256

STATE of Missouri, ex rel. Robert E. GEORGE, Prosecuting Attorney of Lawrence County, Missouri, Relator, v. Honorable Samuel C. JONES, Associate Circuit Judge, Lawrence County, Missouri, Respondent.

No. 20808.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Southern District,

Division Two.

July 16, 1996.

Robert E. George, Pros. Atty., Lawrence County, Mt. Vernon, for relator.

Anne Lasswell, Special Dist. Defender, Springfield, for respondent.

ORIGINAL PROCEEDING IN PROHIBITION

PRELIMINARY ORDER IN PROHIBITION MADE ABSOLUTE

PARRISH, Judge.

Relator is the prosecuting attorney of Lawrence County, Missouri. He seeks to prohibit the respondent associate circuit judge from enforcing an order directing the state to make disclosures pursuant to a request for discovery made by a criminal defendant prior to his preliminary hearing. This court issued a Preliminary Order in Prohibition that prohibited the respondent judge from requiring the state to make the requested disclosures. That order is made absolute.

A case is pending in the Associate Circuit Judge Division of the Circuit Court of Lawrence County, Missouri, styled State of Missouri v. Michael A. Salazar, Jr., Lawrence County case No. CR496-11F. The case is awaiting preliminary hearing. It is pending on a four-count felony complaint in which the defendant is accused of committing two murder in the first degree offenses and two armed criminal action offenses.

The defendant in that case filed a motion for discovery prior to preliminary hearing. Respondent granted the motion ordering the state to disclose the following:

(1) The names of witnesses the State expects to call at preliminary hearing. (2) Any written or recorded statements given by the witness. (3) Any memoranda or reports of interviews of witnesses. (4) Any written reports or a summary of any oral reports given by any witness on the subject of the testimony to be elicited by the State from that witness at preliminary hearing. (5) Any exhibits to be offered together with an opportunity to view the exhibits at a reasonable time prior to March 5, 1996.

Absent express statutory provisions or rule of court, discovery in criminal cases is not permitted. State v. Clark, 711 S.W.2d 885, 888 (Mo.App.1986); Westfall v. Enright, 643 S.W.2d 839, 840 (Mo.App.1982). Rules 25.01 through 25.16 prescribe what discovery is permissible and when it may be conducted.

Rule 25.02 states, "Discovery may commence upon the filing of the indictment or information." An information charging a felony may not be filed until the accused has been afforded a right to a preliminary hearing. § 544.250, RSMo 1994.

The language in Rule 25.02, quoted above, regarding when discovery in criminal cases is permissible was interpreted in State v. Howell, 524 S.W.2d 11 (Mo. banc 1975). At the time Howell was decided, the language was part of Rule 25.30 (repealed). Howell holds that this language does not permit discovery at the preliminary...