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Court refuses to reveal informant’s identity in drug trafficking case
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Posted on Jun 21 2004
The Superior Court denied a suspected drug trafficker’s request to divulge the identity of the government’s confidential informant who helped law enforcers build the case against him and two others.
Associate Judge Ramona Manglona, however, granted Jesse Torres Flores’ request for the disclosure of the net weight of the methamphetamine hydrochloride or “ice” he allegedly possessed and trafficked.
Manglona said the confidential informant should be entitled to the same protection given to informants involved in ongoing law enforcement activities during the preliminary stages of the court proceedings.
The Attorney General’s Office earlier refused to reveal the informant’s identity to the defendant.
The judge denied Flores on most of his request for information when he filed with the court a bill of particulars. The judge explained that the purpose of a bill of particulars is to have the criminal information sufficiently inform the defendant of the nature of the charge against him to enable him to prepare an adequate defense and possibly plead double jeopardy.
“The sufficiency of the information is not a question of whether it could have been more definite and certain, but whether it contains the elements of the offense intended to be charged,” Manglona said, citing a precedent federal court ruling.
“Neither a defendant nor the government can obtain a list of prospective witnesses simply by couching that request in the form of a motion for a bill of particulars,” the judge added.
Manglona also denied Torres’ request for other information, including the specific location where the ice was allegedly seized.
The judge, however, said that the defendant still has the prerogative to file a similar request during future stages of the court proceedings.
Meanwhile, Manglona granted Torres’ request to obtain information on the net weight of the ice allegedly seized from him, saying the illegal drug’s quantity has a bearing on a defendant’s sentence upon conviction.
“The details as to the quantity allegedly possessed by defendant Torres is vital to his preparation for his defense, and this quantity must be provided to him,” the judge said.
