State v. Lee

OPINION

BRAMMER, Presiding Judge.

¶ 1 In this special action, the State of Arizona seeks relief from the respondent judge’s orders compelling depositions in the underlying civil forfeiture proceeding by the real parties in interest, defendants in both the forfeiture action and a parallel criminal proceeding, of named victims in the criminal proceeding. At issue is the scope of a victim’s right to refuse a pre-trial deposition under Arizona’s Victims’ Bill of Rights (VBR), article II, § 2.1 of the Arizona Constitution. The question we must answer is whether the VBR guarantees victims the right…