Very early in the pretrial phase of your case, the Assistant States Attorney will submit a list of witnesses with their names and addresses. Before trial, they will also provide copies of the police reports and a list of real or physical evidence collected by the crime scene investigators. This begins the Discovery process. Your attorney should review this list with you. You will be able to add the names of other witnesses who might help your case. You can also provide the attorney helpful insight into those persons whom the State has listed as its witnesses.
The State will also indicate if it possesses any documents, photographs, DNA, fingerprints, ballistics material, or confessions of the defendant or co-defendants, etc. Your attorney will meet with the prosecutor to look at and review all of these items before trial. The basic purpose of the modern liberal Discovery rules is to avoid surprises at trial. Each side should be fully aware of what is coming so they can adequately assess their case and the chances of success before the trial begins.
If the State fails to provide certain items of Discovery, your lawyer will file a motion alleging a Discovery violation. The Judge will have to determine if the violation was (1) deliberate by the State; (2) whether it was a substantial violation; and (3) whether it prevented adequate preparation to the Defense. In Florida, this is known as a Richardsonhearing from the case Richardson v. State, 245 So.2d 771 (Fla. 1971). This process will prevent the State from calling witnesses at trial that were previously undisclosed to the Defense.