State of Arizona, Appellee v. Robert Charles Glissendorf, Appellant

Summary

The court held that a defendant is entitled to a Willits adverse-inference instruction when the State fails to preserve material, reasonably accessible evidence that could have tended to exonerate the defendant and the loss causes prejudice, even absent bad faith or an apparent exculpatory value at the time of destruction. Because recordings of the victim's earlier interview could have provided impeachment evidence and the State did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the instructional error was harmless as to either conviction, the court reversed both convictions and sentences and remanded for a new trial. The court declined to address the separate evidentiary issue concerning Rule 404(c) because it was moot, directing the trial court to reconsider that evidence if offered again.