Does a defendant have to disclose the names and addresses of prospective witnesses at trial?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Wilson, A131551 (Cal. App. 2012):

Defendant relies entirely on a Nevada state court case for his claim, without explaining its relevance. Defendant's citation, Binegar v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Ct. (1996) 112 Nev. 544, 551, contains a discussion of Nevada statutes that required a defendant to disclose the names and addresses of prospective witnesses, as well as witness statements and the results or reports regarding mental and physical examinations and scientific tests or experiments, even if the defendant did not intend to call these witnesses or use these statements or materials at trial. (Ibid.) The court concluded such disclosures violated a defendant's constitutional guarantees against self-incrimination. (Ibid.) However, the case is inapposite to the circumstances here, in which a prosecutor commented to a jury, including in ways identified as speculative, about the defense's failure to call an expert to discuss its own testing of DNA evidence that was made available to it.

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