The Second Appellate District denied a petition for writ of mandate. The court held that state law did not require a district attorney to make copies of discovery materials available to a non-indigent defendant at no cost.
Archie Schaffer was charged with various felonies. He retained private counsel to represent him. The prosecutor advised defense counsel that copies of all discovery could be made available to him for a charge of 15 cents per page. Alternatively, defense counsel could review the documents in the presence of the prosecutor’s investigator, but would not be allowed to remove them from the premises. No similar charge was levied on defendants represented by either the public defender or conflicts counsel.
