Dubinka
Dubinka v. Judges of the Superior Court of California
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Fletcher, J.
Opinion by Judge FLETCHER.
Michael Dubinka, John Coleman, and Raul Meza appeal the district court’s • order dismissing their action for declaratory and in-junctive relief for failure to state a claim under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). The district court abstained under the doctrine established in Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37 , 91 S.Ct. 746 , 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). We affirm.
BACKGROUND
On June 5, 1990, California voters adopted a ballot initiative popularly referred to as Proposition 115, which significantly altered discovery in California criminal cases by requiring that discovery be reciprocal. Proposition 115 contained both constitutional and statutory provisions. First, it included a state constitutional provision mandating that discovery be reciprocal in criminal cases. 1 *220 Second, it added substantive discovery provisions to the California Penal Code. See Cal. Penal Code §§ 1054-1054.7 (West Supp. 1994).
The substantive discovery provisions require pretrial disclosure by defendants and their counsel of the identities, addresses, and statements of all witnesses whom the defense intends to call at trial. They also require the pretrial production of all physical evidence…