The Supreme Court announced that it has granted leave to appeal in State v. Knight. The question presented, as phrased by the Supreme Court Clerk’s office, is “Where a witness who identified defendant as the shooter in connection with a murder prosecution later gave a sworn statement stating that he was held at gunpoint by defendant’s relatives and forced to sign an affidavit recanting his identification of defendant, can the defense be compelled to produce any recantation affidavits that may be in its possession?” A three-judge panel of the Appellate Division, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed the ruling of the Law Division that had granted the State’s motion to compel the turnover of any such affidavits, finding that they were “neither protected attorney work product nor the result of a confidential defense investigation within the meaning of State v. Williams, 80 N.J. 472 (1979).”
A “Reciprocal Discovery” Case for the Supreme Court
