United States v. Anderson

This government appeal pursuant to the provisions of D.C.Code 1973, § 23-104(a)(1) is from a homicide case in which one of several investigating officers failed to preserve his notes of an initial interview of Special Police Officer James Saunders, a guard at the Veterans Administration Hospital where the incident occurred. In a pretrial hearing the court determined that the notes fell within the purview of the Jencks Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3500 (1970), and concluded that the nonproduction of the lost material warranted the sanction of a prospective bar to the witness’ trial testimony. 1 We reverse.