Discovery consists of lawyers sending to each other lists of questions that are established to get from the other side the facts of the case, witnesses’ names involved and the counsel’s point of view on a number of matters (Rosen, 2007). Furthermore, Rosen 2007 states that discovery may request for production of documents which asks the opposing party of the evidence, records and documents such as tax returns, credit card records, cancelled checks, financial statements, electronic information and emails. Discovery may also involve a situation where a given party asks another party to admit about a fact concerning the case and if the second party does not admit within a certain time frame then the fact is assumed to be true(Rosen, 2007).
The General Statute of North Carolina from section 15A-501 states that an individual charged with commission a crime or felony can be photographed and his or her fingerprint taken on the condition that they have been arrested or put into imprisonment after committing the crime or has been convicted on committing a misdemeanor. Such evidence as notes or messages from a mobile device or emails from an email service provider may also be collected (Bergman & Berman, 2009). By tradition, the prosecution was not entitled to the information possessed by the defendant. But currently, discovery has become two-way. Just like the defendants can discover information in the hands of prosecutors, so too can prosecutors scrutinize particular evidence in the hands of the defendants. So, discovery laws have evolved over the years (Bergman & Berman, 2009). In Carolina lawyers can send requests without requesting officially for production of documents or interrogatories whereas in California the defendant can examine evidence the prosecution suggests to introduce at a trial (Bergman & Berman, 2009). Therefore in both states the lawyers on both sides can exchange information about a case without problems.
References
Rosen, R. N. (2007). Straight Talk about South Carolina Divorce Law. South Carolina: The History Press.
Bergman, P. & Berman, S. (2009) The Criminal Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System. California: Nolo.
