Smith v. Jago
Headline: High court declines to review whether excluding defense alibi witnesses as a discovery sanction violates the Constitution, leaving lower-court rulings and the defendant’s conviction in place for now.
Holding: The Court denied review of the conviction and left in place the lower courts’ ruling that allowed exclusion of late-named alibi witnesses as a discovery sanction, so the conviction stands for now.
- Leaves a conviction intact after exclusion of late-named alibi witnesses.
- Keeps a split among federal appeals courts unresolved.
- Permits states’ discovery sanctions to continue without Supreme Court guidance.
Summary
Background
A man named Smith was tried in Ohio for rape after evidence linked him to the crime despite his claim he was in Florida. Ohio ordered the defense to provide reciprocal discovery by October 30, 1981. On November 11, Smith told his lawyer about three alibi witnesses; the lawyer told prosecutors the name of one witness orally. On the day of trial the defense formally listed all three. The judge allowed one witness to testify that Smith had been in Florida but excluded the other two because their names were not given earlier. Those two would have testified about repeated phone calls from Florida and phone records. Smith was convicted, and federal habeas relief was denied by the District Court and affirmed by the Sixth Circuit (740 F.2d 969 (1984)).
Reasoning
The core question is whether excluding otherwise admissible defense witnesses solely as a sanction for missing a discovery deadline violates the Constitution’s guarantee to call witnesses (the Sixth Amendment). The Supreme Court denied review, so it did not resolve that constitutional question and left the lower courts’ outcome in place. Justice White, joined by the Chief Justice and Justice Brennan, dissented from the denial and argued the Court should grant review because the issue is important, affects many cases, and federal appeals courts are divided on whether such exclusions are permissible.
Real world impact
Because the Court refused to take the case, the split among appeals courts over excluding late-named alibi witnesses remains unresolved. Defendants who miss discovery deadlines can still face exclusion of witnesses in some courts, while other courts have rejected exclusion as a sole sanction. The decision is not a final ruling on the constitutional question and could be reconsidered if the Court takes a similar case later.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice White’s dissent, joined by two Justices, urged the Court to grant review and settle the disagreement among lower courts, stressing the constitutional importance of the right to call witnesses.
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