People v. Collie

Opinion

MOSK, J.

This case presents a variation on a theme with which the Courts of Appeal have been struggling for over a decade without our direct guidance: under what circumstances does Prudhomme v. Superior Court (1970) 2 Cal.3d 320 [85 Cal.Rptr. 129, 466 P.2d 673], justify prosecutorial discovery of pretrial statements made by defense witnesses to defense investigators? Because Prudhomme’s suggestion (at p. 327) that such discovery may sometimes be allowed has caused little but confusion, and because we are not the proper body to create procedural rules that tend to impinge on the…