North Carolina Governor Mike Easley signed a bill into law that requires pros­e­cu­tors to share their files in all felony cas­es. The bill was approved in the wake of alle­ga­tions that pros­e­cu­tors with­held evi­dence in the cap­i­tal mur­der tri­al of Alan Gell, who was lat­er exon­er­at­ed and freed from death row. The new open dis­cov­ery statute requires dis­trict attor­neys to open their inves­tiga­tive files in felony cas­es to defense lawyers who request such access pri­or to tri­al. The law requires DAs to pro­vide such things as police inves­ti­ga­tor notes, defen­dant and wit­ness state­ments, test results and a list of prob­a­ble wit­ness­es for the tri­al. In return, defense attor­neys will have to pro­vide the state with wit­ness lists and details about the grounds on which they plan to defend their client. Dick Taylor of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers said the law should ​“result in less sur­prise, less ambush and more fair tri­als.” He went on to note, ​“I think it’s one of the most sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ments in our crim­i­nal pro­ce­dure for a num­ber of years.” Although, when Easley was the state’s attor­ney gen­er­al, his staff fought attempts by defense attor­neys in cap­i­tal cas­es to gain access to pros­e­cu­tors’ files, his spokes­woman stat­ed that Easley has long been in favor of open dis­cov­ery. (Associated Press, August 4, 2004) See Recent Legislative Activity.

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