City of Redding v. Municipal Court

Petitioner City of Redding (City) seeks a writ of mandate directing respondent municipal court to vacate its ruling granting the motion of real party in interest Richard Allen Barreau (Barreau) for discovery of personnel records of a City police officer. City contends it was error to grant Barreau’s motion because it was supported only by hearsay in the form of his attorney’s affidavit on information and belief and hearsay is incompetent to support a motion to compel discovery. We shall deny the petition.

Barreau is charged in respondent court with misdemeanor battery on a peace officer (Pen. Code, § 243, subd. (c)), and obstructing a peace officer (Pen. Code, § 148), also a misdemeanor. Barreau filed a motion “for an order to produce documents for inspection,” seeking production of the personnel records of the alleged victim, the arresting officer. Respondent court ordered the personnel records produced for in camera inspection.

Thereafter, City filed the instant petition seeking relief from respondent court’s order. We stayed enforcement of the ruling, invited opposition and notified the parties we were considering issuing a peremptory writ in the first instance.…