April 18, 2000

Mr. Tom Marshall
District Public Defender
101 S. Main St.
Clinton, Tennessee 37716

RE: CONTINUING DISCLOSURE

Dear Mr. Marshall,

Please see the enclosed letter to the editor by one Susan Arnold Kaplan which appeared at page 7A in The Oak Ridger newspaper for April 17, 2000. "Ride-along was an eye-opener" (the 5th letter under "Your Views")

This account describes a "ride-along" episode which is representative of the practice. This office has no way of knowing in a given case whether there was a "ride-along" witness accompanying the police.

Our discovery dilemma is that as prosecutors we are often obligated to supply to the defense in each case the names of witnesses and since the police reports do not contain "ride-along" information we cannot reliably comply or know whether there is "Brady Material".

The purpose of this letter is to provide continuing discovery pursuant to EC 7-13 that this practice exists and may prove relevant to the defense. In the example attached, the "ride-along" witness may have observed the taking of a statement from a suspect and observed statements by officers.

We can find no report listing Ms. Kaplan as a witness in any case we know, nor do we have any knowledge of the full scope of this practice in terms of numbers of such episodes. However, we are confident that no "ride-along" witness ever goes on an uneventful trip.

Yours truly,

James N. Ramsey
District Attorney General

JNR/csm

cc: Anderson County Bar Association