Criminal procedure: discovery.

Existing law provides that no discovery shall occur in criminal cases except as provided by statute or as mandated by the Constitution of the United States. Under existing law, a defendant and his or her attorney are required to disclose to the prosecuting attorney any reports or statements of experts made in connection with the case, including the results of physical or mental examinations, scientific tests, experiments, or comparisons which the defendant intends to offer in evidence at the trial. This bill would allow the court to order a defendant in a criminal action or a minor in a juvenile delinquency proceeding to submit to examination by a prosecution-retained mental health expert whenever a defendant or minor, as specified, places in issue his or her mental state at any phase of the criminal action or juvenile proceeding through the proposed testimony of any mental health expert. The bill would require the prosecuting attorney to submit a list of the tests he or she proposes to have a prosecution-retained expert conduct on the defendant or minor and would require the court, upon the request of the defendant or minor, to hold a hearing to consider any objections to the proposed tests. The bill would require the court to make a threshold determination before ordering the defendant to submit to the examination that the proposed tests bear some reasonable relation to the mental state placed in issue by the defendant or minor. The bill would specify that its purpose is to respond to Verdin v. Superior Court (2008) 43 Cal.4th 1096, as specified. This bill would amend Proposition 115, an initiative statute adopted by the voters at the June 5, 1990, statewide primary election, which provides that its provisions may be amended by the Legislature by a 23 vote of the membership of each house.