Commonwealth v. Oliver

The majority’s holding that appellant’s conviction was not violative of due process rests, as I understand it, on three alternate conclusions: First, that the rule of Wardius v. Oregon, 412 U.S. 470, 93 S.Ct. 2208, 37 L.Ed.2d 82 (1973), should not be applied retrospectively; second, that even if Wardius were to be applied retrospectively, and appellant therefore held entitled to reciprocal discovery, here the denial of such discovery was harmless error; and third, that in any case, appellant got reciprocal discovery. For the reasons that follow, I disagree with all three of these conclusions.…