NC Gen. Stat. 15a-903(A)(1) Interpretation

In State v. Shannon, 182 N.C. App. 350, 357-64, 642 S.E.2d 516, 522-26 (2007), the defendant sought notes of pretrial conversations that the prosecution had with a witness. The substance of those conversations was not reduced to writing at all. The Court held in Shannon that a prosecutor has an affirmative duty to reduce the substance of witness statements to writing under N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-903(a)(1), the General Assembly has expressly rejected that holding. By amendment, the statute now provides that a prosecutor does not have an affirmative duty to reduce to writing the substance of an oral statement made by a witness outside of the presence of law enforcement and investigators unless that statement is significantly different from prior statements made by that witness. N.C. Gen. Stat. 15A-903(a)(1).