Banuelos

INTRODUCTION

After petitioner was charged with murder, the prosecution notified defense counsel that one of the investigating officers received a sustained finding of dishonesty and that the officer’s police department intended to publish records related to that finding under Penal Code section 832.7,1 subdivision (b)(1)(C), which makes such records nonconfidential and subject to public inspection. Defense counsel filed a request with the officer’s department under the California Public Records Act (CPRA) (Gov. Code, § 7920.000 et seq.), seeking records related to the officer’s sustained finding of dishonesty. The department responded that it intended to produce those records. While the CPRA request was pending, petitioner moved under Pitchess v. Superior Court (1974) 11 Cal.3d 531 (Pitchess), seeking additional Brady v. Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83 (Brady) material concerning the investigating officer. After conducting an in-camera review of the officer’s personnel file, the court found that it did not contain additional Brady material outside the records concerning the officer’s sustained finding of dishonesty. The court ordered the officer’s department to disclose those…