People v. Superior Court

This proceeding concerns the scope of the prosecution’s discovery obligation in a criminal case. In this capital murder prosecution, *1309 the People of the State of California, through the Office of the District Attorney of Imperial County (District Attorney), petition for a writ of prohibition after the trial court ordered the District Attorney to produce California Department of Corrections (CDC) documents for an in camera review to determine relevance.

We stayed the proceedings, issued an order to show cause and now grant the petition.

Procedural and Factual Background

Joseph A. Barrett is charged with the April 9, 1996 murder of his cellmate in the administrative segregation unit at Calipatria State Prison. Barrett, who at the time was serving a life sentence for murder, is charged with the capital offense of murder while serving a life sentence for a previous murder.

Barrett requested pretrial discovery of 73 categories of documents. At issue are 17 categories of documents that involve records maintained by CDC, including:

In ordering the District Attorney to produce these materials subject to a finding they are relevant, the trial court noted the District…