Broome

The People appeal from an order dismissing this action for their failure to comply with a discovery order. (Pen. Code. § 1238, subd. (a)(8).) The Attorney General argues, in echo of the district attorney below, that the United States Supreme Court decision of Franks v. Delaware (1978) 438 U.S. 154 [ 57 L.Ed.2d 667 , 98 S.Ct. 2674 ] governing traversal of search warrants under federal constitutional law somehow limits a defendant’s right to discovery. The claim is that when the discovery is aimed at determining whether an affiant made misrepresentations in an application for a search warrant, a “substantial preliminary showing” of misrepresentation in the affiant’s application must be made out by the defendant before discovery may be ordered. We find the argument to be untenable and hold instead that the defendants made a showing under the ordinary standards applying to discovery sufficient to entitle them to the challenged discovery order. We further hold that the superior court was within its discretion in dismissing the information as a sanction for the district attorney’s willful failure to comply with the discovery order. As an equal and alternative holding, we find…