Kennedy v. Superior Court

Penal Code section 1054.9 allows persons subject to a sentence of death or life in prison without the possibility of parole to file a motion for postconviction discovery to assist in seeking a writ of habeas corpus or an order vacating the judgment. Such a motion is at issue here. Specifically, petitioner Jerry Noble Kennedy seeks a writ of mandate commanding the trial court to fully grant 35 discovery requests the trial court denied in whole or in part.

We conclude Kennedy is not entitled to the relief he seeks. As we will explain, in seeking a discovery order under section 1054.9, the defendant must persuade the trial court that he is entitled to the materials he is requesting. Section 1054.9 allows discovery of “materials ... to which the . . . defendant would have been entitled at time of trial.” (§ 1054.9, subd. (b).) Thus, the defendant must show the trial court he would have been entitled to the materials he is requesting at time of trial—for example, by showing the materials came within the prosecution’s constitutional or statutory duty to disclose exculpatory evidence.

Likewise, when the trial court denies a defendant’s discovery request under section 1054.9…