Friday, January 23, 2004

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The state Supreme Court has upheld a law making Transportation Department safety studies and accident reports unavailable in court actions -- even if the records could help exonerate a criminal defendant.

The 4-2 ruling this week prevents Gerald S. Taylor, who faces vehicular homicide and related charges in Allegheny County, from obtaining PennDOT records that might show whether roadway conditions contributed to a May 1996 crash that killed Larry McDonald Jr.

The year after Taylor allegedly crossed into oncoming traffic and hit McDonald's vehicle, PennDOT widened that portion of heavily traveled Ohio River Boulevard. Sixteen traffic accidents occurred in 1995-96 at or near the spot where McDonald died.

A county judge had granted Taylor's subpoena seeking PennDOT studies, and the Superior Court upheld it, but the Supreme Court majority determined the Motor Vehicle Code explicitly exempts the highway department's accident investigations, safety studies, records and reports from being used as evidence.

Taylor's lawyer argued that keeping him from accessing records that could establish his innocence violates his constitutional rights.

"It is a fundamental due process right of a defendant that if there's information in the hands of the government that's charging him with a crime that would tend ... to exculpate him, that the government has to turn it over to the defendant. And the last time I looked, PennDOT was part of the government," defense attorney Richard Wile said.

But the Supreme Court ruled the language of the statute was unambiguous.

"Requiring PennDOT to disclose its internal accident studies, investigations and reports would essentially convert the department into (Taylor's) personal, but publicly funded, investigator and additional expert," wrote Justice Ronald D. Castille in the majority opinion.

Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy and Justice Russell M. Nigro dissented, saying they would force PennDOT to disclose factual information relevant to Taylor's case, but not subjective opinions. They said the department's fear of a "chilling effect" in future investigations was unfounded.

Sean Connolly, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, which argued the appeal for PennDOT, said "these investigations are designed to make the highways safer for all motorists. They are not meant to be used by plaintiffs' attorneys to sue the commonwealth."

Taylor, a 52-year-old railroad engineer, is free on bond while he awaits trial, Wile said.

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