Discovery

Defendant appealed the decision of the trial judge sustaining the violation of R.I.G.L. 1956 § 31-27-2.1(b) (refusal to submit). The District Court granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss on a related charge, which stemmed from the same incident, because the Woonsocket Police failed to comply with a discovery request to produce the booking and rights video from the night of the arrest. Here, the defendant argued that the trial judge erred in disregarding the District Court’s ruling and sustaining the charge of violating § 31-27-2.1. The Appeals Panel held that the District Court and the Traffic Tribunal are different courts and have different jurisdictions and procedural rules. The defendant failed to follow the Traffic Tribunal’s procedures for requesting the booking and rights video tape. Accordingly, the trial judge was not required to give weight to the District Court’s ruling and, therefore, did not err in sustaining the charge against the defendant.City of Woonsocket v. Tristan R. Fraser, C.A. No. T13-0027 (January 21, 2014).pdf