State ex rel. Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney v. Prokes

DISSENTING OPINION

I respectfully dissent. The question presented here is: did the circuit court abuse its discretion in dismissing first-degree murder charges as a sanction for the State’s noncompliance with a pretrial discovery order when the record does not support a finding that the State’s noncompliance prejudiced the defendant? The answer is “yes.” Accordingly, I would make absolute our preliminary writ of prohibition.

On June 2, 2010, Judge Prokes entered a discovery order (“the discovery order”), requiring the State to produce fifteen specific categories of documents and/or information…