Does the prosecution have an obligation to make a good faith effort to obtain a witness at trial if the state has no power to do so?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Adams, 216 Cal.App.3d 1431, 265 Cal.Rptr. 568 (Cal. App. 1990):
The prosecution has no obligation to make a good faith effort to obtain a witness' presence at trial if the state has no power to do so. "The law does not require the doing of a futile act. Thus, if no possibility of procuring the witness exists (as, for example, the witness' intervening death), 'good faith' demands nothing of the prosecution." (Ohio v. Roberts (1980) 448 U.S. 56, 74, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2543, 65 L.Ed.2d 597, 613.)
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