Sometimes, when there is a multi-count indictment, a Rosario or Brady violation will relate only to one set of counts. The undisclosed documents or evidence will not have had anything to do with other counts of the indictment. This comes up most often when there are crimes charging multiple incidents that are jointly tried together. The question becomes whether the discovery violation concerning the tainted counts had a "spillover effect" on the unaffected counts.
In People v. Daly (Ct. App. 5/4/2010), a memorandum decision from the Court of Appeals, the defendant was charged with a number of robberies. There was a Rosario/Brady violation with respect to a robbery and shooting at an off-track betting parlor. The court held that there was not a spillover effect with respect to an attempted robbery and shooting at a gas station, which was jointly tried with the OTB incident. "Reversal of the jointly tried counts is required only if there is a 'reasonable possibility that the evidence supporting the . . . tainted counts influenced the guilty verdicts on the other [counts]'" (quoting People v Baghai-Kermani, 84 NY2d 525, 532 [1994]). Here, the undisclosed documents related only to the OTB incident and there was "strong, independent proof" of the defendant's guilt regarding the other crime: ballistics evidence, identifications by two eyewitnesses, a lineup identification, and the earlier presence of a pickup truck matching the defendant's vehicle. Thus, the reasonable possibility standard was not met and the conviction was affirmed. (LC)
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