In People v. Superior Court (Johnson), a unanimous Supreme Court today maintains protections for confidential police officer personnel files and puts the burden on defense counsel to obtain possibly exculpatory evidence from those files. The opinion, written by Justice Ming Chin, explains the procedure for when a police department tells the prosecution that an officer’s personnel file might contain evidence favorable to a criminal defendant.
Under the court’s opinion, the prosecution “does not have unfettered access” to the file, but must make a Pitchess motion to look at the file. On the other hand, to fulfill its duty under Brady to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defendant, the prosecution is now not required to file a Pitchess motion or look at the file at all; it only needs to pass on the police department’s tip to the defendant who can then decide whether to file his or her own Pitchess motion. The court states that “the prosecution has no Brady obligation to do what the defense can do just as well for itself.” The court presaged this result when, seven weeks after granting review, it specifically asked the parties to brief the viability of the procedure it adopts today.
The court’s opinion reverses the First District, Division Five, Court of Appeal. It also approves of a 2014 decision on a related issue by the Fourth District, Division One, Court of Appeal.
The Supreme Court moved relatively quickly on this case. Today’s opinion comes just a little more than eight months after the court granted review.
