Supreme Court of Colorado
The People of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff v. Theresa Baltazar, Defendant
November 8, 2010241 P.3d 941
Summary
The court held that a criminal defendant has no constitutional right to use ex parte subpoenas duces tecum as an investigative tool while withholding non-discoverable information from the prosecution. The applicable subpoena rule permits compelled production of evidence for trial or court-supervised pretrial inspection, but does not create expanded discovery or a right to conduct secret defense investigations. The court therefore made the rule to show cause absolute and remanded for further proceedings.