Minges v. State
Annotate this Case
The Supreme Court overruled State ex rel. Keaton v. Circuit Court of Rush County, 475 N.E.2d 1146 (Ind. 1985), which held that criminal trial courts do not have inherent authority to require the State to produce complete copies of police reports over the prosecuting attorney's timely work product objection, holding that Trial Rule 26(B)(3) supersedes Keaton.
In making its holding in Keaton the Supreme Court cited an undue burden on prosecuting attorneys and the potential for abuse by defense counsel. Noting that the majority of prosecutors across the State regularly produce police reports to defendants while the minority automatically assert the work product privilege over those documents the Supreme Court reconsidered its decision in Keaton. The Court then overruled Keaton, holding (1) the decision in Keaton conflicts with Indiana's liberal discovery rules, including Trial Rule 26(B)(3); and (2) the reasons justifying the Court's decision in Keaton are improper considerations in a work product analysis and unsupported in today's modern age.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.