Com. v. Donoughe, M. No. 639 WDA 2020
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In the case of Commonwealth v. Donoughe, the defendant was arrested for a first offense DUI. He was initially admitted into the ARD program. Approximately 7 months later, he was removed from ARD for failure to comply with the required conditions. He opted to take the case to trial and requested his discovery, including the officer’s Dash Camera footage. The Commonwealth responded that the dash camera had been destroyed consistent with PSP official policy 5 months after the defendant entered the ARD program.
The defendant filed a motion to dismiss for a Brady violation. The judge denied that motion and after a conviction at trial, the defendant appealed. In order to succeed on a Brady claim, the defendant must establish that the evidence was exculpatory. If unable to establish that the evidence was exculpatory, the defendant must show that the evidence was potentially useful and destroyed in bad faith. The defendant was unable to establish by any evidence that the footage was exculpatory and therefore the potentially useful bad faith test must be shown. There was no evidence presented to suggest bad faith. In fact, the record was clear that there was no bad faith and that the officers were simply following protocol. The superior court found no abuse of discretion in denying the defendants motion to dismiss and the judgment is affirmed.
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