City of Los Angeles v. Superior Court
Opinion
Opinion
No appearance by Respondent.
Richard Leonard, for Real Party in Interest.
Michael P. Judge, Public Defender, Albert J. Menaster and Mark Harvis, Deputy Public Defenders as Amici Curiae.
CROSKEY, J.
Evidence Code section 1045, subdivision (b)(1), prohibits a court from ordering the disclosure of information concerning a complaint against a police officer arising from conduct that occurred more than five years before the incident that is the subject of the pending litigation. The superior court in this case ordered the disclosure of information from a ten-year-old complaint against a police officer despite the statutory prohibition. Petitioner City of Los Angeles contends the order was error and seeks writ relief.
A state law that conflicts with a criminal defendant's rights under the federal Constitution must yield to those constitutional rights. The supremacy clauses in the federal and state Constitutions (U.S. Const., art. VI, cl. 2; Cal. Const., art. III, § 1) require that result. We conclude that the disclosure ordered in this case is required to protect the defendant's Fourteenth Amendment due process right to a fair trial and that the city has not shown error.