North Carolina
On open file discovery: “I've never had an issue where I haven’t wanted to provide the file because of certain things that may be contained in it. If I did feel that way, I would actually question whether or not the case should be prosecuted.”
-Brittney Edwards, Assistant District Attorney, Durham County, North Carolina
On open file discovery: “Open file discovery is the right thing to do because of the goals we’re trying to achieve. We shouldn’t be having trial by ambush. My job is only done if a defense attorney is able to do his or her job too. They can only do their job if they have the information.”
-Bruce Lily, Deputy District Attorney, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina
Louisiana
On justice: “Prosecutors have a duty to seek justice. It’s not just to get a conviction. It's to get a correct conviction. That means we have to err on the side of disclosure.”
On witness safety: "Under our laws it’s a right that a defendant has witness information. It’s the confrontation clause for goodness sakes: They’ve got to be able to confront the witnesses against them."
-Laura Fulco, First Assistant District Attorney, Shreveport, Louisiana.
Virginia
On MORE EXPEDIENT OUTCOMES: “In our office, we’ve always done open file discovery. We invite the defense to come into our office, look at our file. It helps if everyone realizes what the evidence is and we can go from there. I want the defense to see the inculpatory evidence, because I want to encourage them to plea.”
On witness safety: "We’re coming up with a classification for defense attorney’s eyes only. The defense attorney is under obligation as officer of court to not turn that over to his client, and yet they would have the ability to send out his investigator, go talk to the witness himself, look into the matter."
-Michael R. Douchette, Executive Director, Virginia Association of Commonwealth Attorneys.
On benefits to prosecutors: “With open file discovery, the chances you can be successfully accused of withholding exculpatory or impeachment evidence is minimal. We don’t spend a lot of time on discovery disputes, and it’s a long time since we’ve been accused of hiding the ball.”
-Commonwealth Attorney, Virginia
Texas
ON OPEN FILE DISCOVERY: “I absolutely think open file discovery is a good thing. For someone to truly be able to represent their client they need to see everything in the file. The intent of our new discovery law in Texas is honorable and good.
Greg Cox, Director Public Integrity Unit, Travis County District Attorney's Office.