When you have a situation where law enforcement is the primary witness, or law enforcement has done something illegal related to a search, making a statement or anything the defendant can use to file a motion to try to get the case dismissed or mitigated, you want to think about doing what's called a “Pitchess Motion.” This involves a formal request to the court to review the personnel records of the involved police officers for any past instances of misconduct or dishonesty.

What you're trying to do is gather background information on the police officers involved in the case. You're looking for information such as prior false police reports that they might have filed, lying on a police report, or any other type of misconduct that raises concerns about their ability to tell the truth or engage in illegal behavior against the defendant. The reason you want that is that, in their personnel record, they're going to have all that type of information, even including a criminal record.

So, suppose someone filed a complaint and claimed that the officer had filed a false police report. Now, your client is claiming that the police have filed a false police report against them. In that case, you can then send your investigator out to interview that particular person or persons and then try to use that person at the trial to show that the police are lying, or you can call that person as a witness in a motion, for example, saying it was an illegal stop, an illegal search, an illegal arrest, and then the judge can consider whether or not the police are telling the truth about that.

Real Case Example in Los Angeles County

I'll never forget that I had a case in one of the courts in Los Angeles County, and the prosecutor had to turn over to the defense the fact that one of the police officers involved in the case had committed an illegal act while working inside the Los Angeles County jail. This act was crucial to the case, and it was only revealed through a successful Pitchess Motion.

After the prosecutor disclosed the officer's misconduct, we returned to Chambers to discuss the motion with the judge. The judge's response was clear, "If you need to rely on that particular police officer to make this motion, you'd better think again, because I don't believe anything that guy says." This underscores the significant role of the judge in evaluating the credibility of the police officers involved.

That's the type of power that a Pitchess Motion can have.  It's not just a legal tool, it's a beacon of hope. It can bring evidence into question, casting doubt on the truth, veracity, and credibility of a particular witness.  If that witness is crucial to the prosecution's case, a successful Pitchess Motion could be a game-changer, a lynchpin in a key argument to exclude the testimony of that witness, and sometimes either win a motion or win a case outright.

Often, people are arrested, and the only witnesses in the case are the police. Therefore, if you can demonstrate that the police are not truthful, they lack credibility. If you can demonstrate that the police have lied in the past in a case, then you've a strong foothold to argue to the jury that they didn't tell the truth the last time and are not telling the truth this time.

Obviously, you're going to want to support that argument with surrounding facts—maybe your client's testimony, maybe other witnesses who might have seen what happened. Now, you start to put yourself in a strong position to say not only that our witnesses are denying this is true, but we also have information that suggests this police officer hasn't been truthful before. This preparation is your power, your control over the situation.

So, in order to win one of these Pitchess Motions, you obviously have to make a primary showing in the beginning that the police are saying something, and you have evidence in contradiction to it.  You can't just go on a fishing expedition.  You need a strong foundation and a solid case against the police, or the judge is not going to grant your Pitchess Motion. This preparation is your power, your control over the situation.

For example, let's say the police arrive at your client's location.  They pull him over on a traffic stop.  They claim they shined their flashlight in the car and saw a bag of cocaine sitting on the front seat.  Your client submits a Declaration as part of the Pitchess Motion, saying the cocaine wasn't on the front seat.

They couldn't have seen it.  It was hidden inside a compartment in the car.  The only reason they saw it was because they illegally searched my car.  I didn't permit them to search my car.  Now, you've put their credibility, their gluttony, in play.  You're going to be able to get the judge to go back and look to see if the officer has anything that should be turned over to you based on your case, based on your argument that the police are not being truthful.

So, if you're looking to file a Pitchess Motion, it's crucial to talk to your criminal defense attorney. Make sure your attorney is not just familiar with Pitch's Motions in Los Angeles—how they're conducted, who gets served with them, and how to win, but also experienced and knowledgeable in handling such complex legal procedures.