Court docket Names Criminal Discovery Panel

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Court docket Names Criminal Discovery Panel
Court docket names criminal discovery study panel

The Supreme Court docket of Virginia has named a 23-member committee to consider proposed changes to the rule for criminal discovery.

The committee is chaired by Loudoun County Circuit Choose Thomas D. Horne, who also has chaired panels studying judicial boundaries and judicial workloads.

The court’s study panel follows a call for reform this year from an Indigent Defense Task Force established by the Virginia Point out Bar. That report was criticized as one-sided by prosecutors, who abandoned the study effort with complaints that the task force was dominated by defense legal professionals.

At issue is whether prosecutors should have to allow access to routine police reports, among other matters. Currently, Rule 3A:11 provides access only to scientific reports prepared for regulation enforcement.

The court’s freshly appointed committee includes prosecutors and defense legal professionals, together with five judges, two law firm-legislators, two regulation professors, and associates of the legal professional general’s office, the point out police, local police chiefs, sheriffs, the point out crime lab, and a sufferer-witness program. Also on board is VSB Ethics Counsel James M. McCauley.

The court docket did not provide information about a timeline for making tips or whether the committee will solicit additional comments from the general public. The task force advice was 2 times set out for comments and produced scores of responses both times.

The following are members of the committee:
•Circuit Choose Thomas D. Horne, Chair
•Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Charlottesville
•Virginia Court docket of Appeals Choose Rossie D. Alston, Jr.
•Circuit Choose Marjorie T. Arrington
•Circuit Choose Randy I. Bellows
•Circuit Choose Michael L. Moore
•Sen. Richard H. Stuart, R-Montross
•Roanoke law firm Thomas J. Bondurant Jr.
•Richmond Commonwealth’s Legal professional Michael N. Herring
•Leesburg Deputy General public Defender Bonnie Hoffman
•Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Legal professional Michael R. Doucette
•Floyd County Commonwealth’s Legal professional Stephanie Murray Shortt
•Senior Asst. Legal professional General Virginia B. Theisen
•Washington & Lee University regulation Prof. David I. Bruck
•Virginia M. Coscia, Director of the Fredericksburg Sufferer Witness Assistance Program
•Sara N. Poole, Office of Lawful Affairs, Department of Point out Police
•Stephanie Merritt, Department Counsel, Department of Forensic Science
•University of Richmond regulation Prof. John G. Douglass
•Douglas A. Ramseur, Capital Defender for the Southeastern Location
•Leesburg law firm Alex N. Levay
•Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy J. Longo, Sr.
•VSB Ethics Counsel James McCauley
•Washington County Sheriff’s Major Jack Davidson