People v. Joseph

OPINION OF THE COURT

Titone, J.

A witness’s pretrial statements must generally be disclosed to the defense before opening argument (see, CPL 240.45), but the failure to make such timely disclosure will not lead to any sanctions if the undisclosed matter is the "duplicative equivalent” of material that has previously been disclosed. The question presented here is whether the latter principle may be applied when a document subject to Rosario disclosure has been destroyed and a testimonial reconstruction is required to establish its contents. Concluding that the fallibility of human memory makes…