Revises provisions relating to informants. (BDR 14-228)

Existing law imposes a duty upon a prosecuting attorney and a defendant to disclose certain information before and during a trial, including, without limitation, information relating to witnesses and evidence. (NRS 174.233-174.295) Section 7 of this bill provides that if a prosecuting attorney intends to use testimony provided by an informant in a trial, the prosecuting attorney is required to disclose the following information or materials to the defendant: (1) a summary of the criminal history of the informant; (2) a copy of any cooperation agreement; (3) any benefit that has been or will be provided to the informant in exchange for his or her testimony; (4) the substance and, if known, the time and place of any statement made by the defendant to the informant that is relevant to the trial and any statement implicating the defendant that was made by the informant to a law enforcement officer; (5) details relating to any occasion on which the informant recanted his or her testimony; and (6) any other case known to the prosecuting attorney in which the informant testified in exchange for a benefit and the benefit offered or provided. Section 7 requires such disclosures to be made as soon as is practicable before a trial, but not later than 30 days before the trial, unless the court revises the deadline for making the disclosures or the court continues the trial. Section 7 also provides that if a court finds that making the disclosures may result in substantial bodily harm to the informant, the court may order the disclosures to only be made to the attorney for the defendant, and not to the defendant or any other party. Finally, section 7 requires a court to instruct the jury to consider certain information in assessing the credibility of an informant. Section 6 of this bill requires each office of a prosecuting attorney to maintain complete and systematic records of cases prosecuted by the office in which testimony is provided by an informant pursuant to a cooperation agreement. Sections 6 and 8 of this bill provide that such records are confidential and not considered public books or records. Sections 3-5 of this bill define the terms “benefit,” “cooperation agreement” and “informant,” respectively, for the purposes of this bill. Section 2 of this bill makes a conforming change related to the definitions.