Nicholas Williams v. State of Indiana ( 2012 )

FILED
Jan 11 2012, 8:40 am
FOR PUBLICATION CLERK
of the supreme court,
court of appeals and
tax court
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE NON-PARTY
INDIANA BOARD OF PHARMACY:
DARREN BEDWELL
Marion County Public Defender GREGORY F. ZOELLER
Appellate Division Attorney General of Indiana
Indianapolis, Indiana
KATHY BRADLEY
Deputy Attorney General
Indianapolis, Indiana
IN THE
COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA
NICHOLAS WILLIAMS, )
)
Appellant-Defendant, )
)
vs. ) No. 49A02-1103-CR-266
)
STATE OF INDIANA, )
)
Appellee-Plaintiff. )
INTERLOCUTORY APPEAL FROM THE MARION SUPERIOR COURT
The Honorable Charles A. Wiles, Senior Judge
Cause No. 49F08-0906-FD-54517
January 11, 2012
OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION
CRONE, Judge
Case Summary
Nicholas Williams was arrested and charged with possessing the controlled substances
methadone and alprazolam. The existence of a valid prescription is a defense to the crime of
possession of a controlled substance. Because Williams initially could not remember the
names of the doctors who had allegedly prescribed those substances or the pharmacies at
which the prescriptions were allegedly filled, his counsel served a subpoena on the Indiana
Board of Pharmacy (“the Board”), which maintains a computerized database used to monitor
the prescription of controlled substances, requesting a certified copy of “any and all” of
Williams‟s prescription records.
The Board filed a motion to quash the subpoena, asserting that the requested
information was confidential pursuant to statute and therefore could not be released to
Williams. At a hearing on the motion to quash, Williams testified that he now remembered
the names of the doctors who allegedly had prescribed the methadone and alprazolam but
could not remember where the prescriptions allegedly had been filled. The trial court granted
the Board‟s motion to quash and certified its ruling for interlocutory appeal.
On appeal, Williams contends that the trial court erred in granting the Board‟s motion
to quash his subpoena, arguing that his prescription records are not privileged, that his
request was sufficiently particular, and that the records are material to his defense. The
Board contends that Williams‟s prescription records may be released only to persons
specified in the applicable statute, that his request is not sufficiently particular, that he could
2
obtain the requested information from his doctors, and that the Board has a paramount
interest in not disclosing that information.
We conclude that the confidentiality provisions of the applicable statute were enacted
to protect Williams‟s physician-patient privilege and pharmacist-patient privilege and that he
has waived those privileges by requesting his prescription records in the exercise of his
constitutional right to present a complete defense to the charged crimes. We further conclude
that Williams‟s request is sufficiently particular, that the requested information is material to
his defense, that not all the information requested would be available from his doctors, and
that the Board has failed to show a paramount interest in not disclosing the information.
Therefore, we reverse the trial court‟s ruling and remand for further proceedings consistent
with this opinion.
Facts and Procedural History
According to the probable cause affidavit filed in this case, Indianapolis Metropolitan
Police officers arrested Williams for public intoxication and possession of a controlled
substance on June 8, 2009. The officers found several pill bottles on the floor of Williams‟s
car and a baggie of yellow pills in his pocket. A preliminary laboratory report indicated that
twenty-five pills tested positive for methadone and nine pills tested positive for alprazolam.1
On June 9, 2009, the State charged Williams with two counts of class D felony possession of
1
The probable cause affidavit indicates that some of the pills were found in the baggie and some in
the pill bottles in Williams‟s car. See Appellant‟s App. at 21 (“Officer Mauer transported all of the pills found
on Nicholas and in the vehicle to the property room.”).
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a controlled substance2 and one count of class B misdemeanor public intoxication. The
possession statute provides that “[a] person who, without a valid prescription or order of a
practitioner acting in the course of the practitioner‟s professional practice, knowingly or
intentionally possesses a controlled substance (pure or adulterated) in schedule I, II, III, or IV
… commits possession of a controlled substance, a Class D felony.” The existence of a valid
prescription for a controlled substance is a defense to the crime of possession which the
defendant has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence. Schuller v. State,
625 N.E.2d 1243, 1246 (Ind. Ct. App. 1993).
On October 22, 2010, Williams served a request for production of documents by a
non-party and a subpoena duces tecum on INSPECT RX, requesting a certified copy of “any
and all” of his prescription records and listing his date of birth and social security number.
Appellant‟s App. at 44. INSPECT is the Indiana Scheduled Prescription Electronic
Collection and Tracking program, which is administered by the Board pursuant to statute for
the purpose of monitoring the prescription of controlled substances. As part of the INSPECT
program, the Board maintains a computerized database compiled from information that is
required by law to be transmitted by controlled substance prescription dispensers, including a
prescription recipient‟s name, identification number, date of birth, and method of payment
for the controlled substance dispensed; the dates a controlled substance is dispensed, as well
as the quantities and number of days supply; and the United States Drug Enforcement
2
The charging information appears to list methadone as a schedule I controlled substance, but it is
actually a schedule II controlled substance. Ind. Code § 35-48-2-6(c).
4
Agency registration number for both the prescriber and the dispenser of the controlled
substance. Ind. Code §§ 35-48-7-8.1, -10.1.
On November 18, 2010, the Board filed a motion to quash the subpoena that reads in
pertinent part as follows:
5. Defendants‟ [sic] Subpoena is improper in that it seeks to force the
Non-Party to provide information and documentation that is confidential
pursuant to statute.
6. Indiana Code section 35-48-7-11.1 provides that the requested
information and documentation is confidential, and is only available for release
to certain classes of persons.
7. The information can be released to persons who are authorized to
receive, process, or store the information pursuant to Indiana Code section 35-
48-7-11.1(c).
8. The information can also be released to personnel who are
investigating claims against a medical professional regarding the prescribing of
controlled substances or to a similar body in another state pursuant to Indiana
Code section 35-48-7-11.1(d).
9. Defendant has offered nothing to indicate that he belongs to any of
the classes of persons eligible to receive the confidential information and
documentation, and, therefore, Defendant‟s Subpoena should be quashed.
Appellant‟s App. at 49.
On December 2, 2010, the trial court held a hearing on the motion to quash at which
Williams did not appear but was represented by counsel. Defense counsel remarked that “a
good number of clients with mental health diagnoses and treatments and medications don‟t
remember where they‟ve had prescriptions filled so it does frustrate our effort to produce
prescriptions when there‟s a charge of possessing a controlled substance without a valid
prescription.” Tr. at 3-4. Defense counsel then stated his “good faith belief that there will be
5
a valid prescription in that database that [he would] know what doctor and what pharmacy to
particularly subpoena.” Id. at 8. The trial court took the matter under advisement.
On February 7, 2011, the court held another hearing on the motion to quash at which
Williams appeared and was represented by counsel. Williams testified under oath that he
was able to remember the names of the two doctors who had prescribed the methadone and
alprazolam but was unable to remember the pharmacies at which the prescriptions had been
filled. See id. at 23 (“I don‟t know the exact location but it‟s either Walgreens or CVS.”).
When the trial court suggested that Williams could subpoena the doctors, defense counsel
said,
[W]ith this one subpoena through the Board of Pharmacy I can obtain the
doctor and the pharmacy and since those are entered by the doctors and
pharmacies into that database I would not need to independently subpoena
them. I would have all of [Williams‟s] records for all medications. There is a
separate file that the court would note that I did not file the subpoena on yet,
file ending 976 in which he is charged with another Possession of a Controlled
Substance as a Class D felony and it would allow me to dispose of both of
these cases if I had that one prescription record. So it doesn‟t ultimately
resolve the issue, if I can issue one subpoena then I can take care of multiple
cases. And it‟s still our position that we‟re entitled to request that information
by subpoena, by third party subpoena, and that I‟m entitled to it because it‟s
my client‟s medical records, his own records.
Id. at 24. The trial court summarily granted the Board‟s motion to quash and certified its
ruling for interlocutory appeal. On May 6, 2011, we accepted jurisdiction of this appeal.
Discussion and Decision
Williams contends that the trial court erred in granting the Board‟s motion to quash
his subpoena. “A trial court has broad discretion with regard to rulings on discovery matters
based upon its duties to promote discovery of the truth and to guide and control the
6
proceedings.” Moore v. State, 839 N.E.2d 178, 182 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005), trans. denied
(2006). Consequently, such rulings will be reversed only for an abuse of discretion, which
occurs when the trial court‟s decision is against the logic and effect of the facts and
circumstances before the court. Id.Due to the fact-sensitive nature of discovery matters, the trial court‟s ruling is
cloaked in a strong presumption of correctness on appeal. We may affirm the
trial court‟s ruling if it is sustainable on any legal basis in the record, even
though this was not the reason enunciated by the trial court.
Id. (citations and quotation marks omitted).
In the absence of a conflicting criminal rule, the Indiana Rules of Trial Procedure
generally apply to criminal proceedings. State v. Cline (In re WTHR-TV), 693 N.E.2d 1, 5
(Ind. 1998) (citing Ind. Criminal Rule 21). “Trial Rule 34 enables parties to a lawsuit to
request information or material directly from both parties and non-parties.” Id. The scope of
discovery is governed by Trial Rule 26(B), which reads in pertinent part as follows:
Parties may obtain discovery regarding any matter, not privileged, which is
relevant to the subject-matter involved in the pending action, whether it relates
to the claim or defense of the party seeking discovery or the claim or defense
of any other party, including the existence, description, nature, custody,
condition and location of any books, documents, or other tangible things and
the identity and location of persons having knowledge of any discoverable
matter. It is not ground for objection that the information sought will be
inadmissible at the trial if the information sought appears reasonably calculated
to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.
Ind. Trial Rule 26(B)(1).
The Indiana Supreme Court has established the following three-part test “for the
discoverability of records by a criminal defendant in certain circumstances”:
7
(1) there must be sufficient designation of the items sought to be discovered
(particularity); (2) the requested items must be material to the defense
(relevance or materiality); and (3) if the first two requirements are met, the trial
court must grant the request unless there is a showing of “paramount interest”
in nondisclosure.
In re Crisis Connection, Inc., 949 N.E.2d 789, 794 (Ind. 2011). This test does not apply,
however, “when the question is the discoverability of information that is otherwise
privileged.” Id.Indiana Code Section 35-48-7-11.1(a) provides that the information received by the
INSPECT program from controlled substance dispensers is “confidential.” The rest of the
statute reads in relevant part as follows:
(b) The board shall carry out a program to protect the confidentiality of
the information described in subsection (a). The board may disclose the
information to another person only under subsection (c), (d), or (g).
(c) The board may disclose confidential information described in
subsection (a) to any person who is authorized to engage in receiving,
processing, or storing the information.
(d) Except as provided in subsections (e) and (f), the board may release
confidential information described in subsection (a) to the following persons:
(1) A member of the board or another governing body that licenses
practitioners and is engaged in an investigation, an adjudication, or a
prosecution of a violation under any state or federal law that involves a
controlled substance.
(2) An investigator for the consumer protection division of the office of
the attorney general, a prosecuting attorney, the attorney general, a
deputy attorney general, or an investigator from the office of the
attorney general, who is engaged in:
(A) an investigation;
(B) an adjudication; or
8
(C) a prosecution;
of a violation under any state or federal law that involves a controlled
substance.
(3) A law enforcement officer who is an employee of:
(A) a local, state, or federal law enforcement agency; or
(B) an entity that regulates controlled substances or enforces
controlled substances rules or laws in another state;
that is certified to receive information from the INSPECT program.
(4) A practitioner or practitioner‟s agent certified to receive information
from the INSPECT program.
(5) A controlled substance monitoring program in another state with
which Indiana has established an interoperability agreement.
(6) The state toxicologist.
(7) A certified representative of the Medicaid retrospective and
prospective drug utilization review program.
(8) A substance abuse assistance program for a licensed health care
provider who:
(A) has prescriptive authority under IC 25; and
(B) is participating in the assistance program.
(e) Information provided to an individual under:
(1) subsection (d)(3) is limited to information:
(A) concerning an individual or proceeding involving the
unlawful diversion or misuse of a schedule II, III, IV, or V
controlled substance; and
(B) that will assist in an investigation or proceeding; and
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(2) subsection (d)(4) may be released only for the purpose of:
(A) providing medical or pharmaceutical treatment; or
(B) evaluating the need for providing medical or pharmaceutical
treatment to a patient.
(f) Before the board releases confidential information under subsection
(d), the applicant must be approved by the INSPECT program in a manner
prescribed by the board.
(g) The board may release to:
(1) a member of the board or another governing body that licenses
practitioners;
(2) an investigator for the consumer protection division of the office of
the attorney general, a prosecuting attorney, the attorney general, a
deputy attorney general, or an investigator from the office of the
attorney general; or
(3) a law enforcement officer who is:
(A) authorized by the state police department to receive the type
of information released; and
(B) approved by the board to receive the type of information
released;
confidential information generated from computer records that identifies
practitioners who are prescribing or dispensing large quantities of a controlled
substance.
(h) The information described in subsection (g) may not be released
until it has been reviewed by:
(1) a member of the board who is licensed in the same profession as the
prescribing or dispensing practitioner identified by the data; or
(2) the board‟s designee;
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and until that member or the designee has certified that further investigation is
warranted. However, failure to comply with this subsection does not
invalidate the use of any evidence that is otherwise admissible in a proceeding
described in subsection (i).
(i) An investigator or a law enforcement officer receiving confidential
information under subsection (c), (d), or (g) may disclose the information to a
law enforcement officer or an attorney for the office of the attorney general for
use as evidence in the following:
(1) A proceeding under IC 16-42-20.
(2) A proceeding under any state or federal law that involves a
controlled substance.
(3) A criminal proceeding or a proceeding in juvenile court that
involves a controlled substance.
Ind. Code § 35-48-7-11.1.
Conspicuously absent from the list of persons specifically authorized to receive
information from the INSPECT database is the person for whom a controlled substance is
prescribed and dispensed – in other words, the patient. To the extent that the confidential
information in the database might also be considered privileged, by virtue of either the
physician-patient privilege or the pharmacist-patient privilege,3 that privilege inures to the
patient, not the Board (or the physician or the pharmacist, for that matter). Here, Williams‟s
3
See, e.g., Ind. Code §§ 34-46-3-1 (“Except as otherwise provided by statute, the following persons
shall not be required to testify regarding the following communications: … (2) Physicians, as to matters
communicated to them by patients, in the course of their professional business, or advice given in such
cases.”), 25-26-13-15 (“(a) A pharmacist shall hold in strictest confidence all prescriptions, drug orders,
records, and patient information. He may divulge such information only when it is in the best interest of the
patient or when requested by the board or its representatives or by a law enforcement officer charged with the
enforcement of laws pertaining to drugs or devices or the practice of pharmacy. (b) A person who has
knowledge by virtue of his office of any prescription drug order, record, or patient information may not divulge
such information except in connection with a criminal prosecution or proceeding or a proceeding before the
board, to which the person to whom the information relates is a party.”).
11
request for information from the database regarding his prescriptions amounts to a waiver of
any privilege, and therefore we conclude that the aforementioned three-part test for
discoverability applies in this case. See Collins v. Bair, 256 Ind. 230, 238, 268 N.E.2d 95, 99
(1971) (“a patient waives his physician-patient privilege by pursuing a course of conduct
inconsistent with a continued observance of the privilege”); Ley v. Blose, 698 N.E.2d 381,
384 (Ind. Ct. App. 1998) (noting that physician-patient privilege “is not absolute, and may be
waived by the patient either expressly or by implication”).
“Ultimately, the three-part test for discoverable information in a criminal proceeding
involves balancing „the relevance of the material, its availability from other sources, the
burden of compliance measured in terms of difficulty, and the nature and importance of the
interests invaded.‟” Williams v. State, 819 N.E.2d 381, 385 (Ind. Ct. App. 2004) (quoting
Cline, 693 N.E.2d at 7), trans. denied (2005). Regarding the first part, particularity, “the
request must enable the subpoenaed party to identify what is sought and allow the trial court
to determine whether there has been sufficient compliance with the request.” Id.
Particularity also requires a showing that the information is not readily available elsewhere.
Cline, 693 N.E.2d at 7. “[W]hat constitutes reasonable particularity will depend on the facts
of each individual case, the crime charged, the nature of the items sought to be discovered,
the degree of discovery of other items of information, the nature of the defense, etc.” Id. at
6-7 (citation and quotation marks omitted). “[T]he particularity requirement is not to be
construed strictly against the defendant but should be administered so as to maximize pre-
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trial discovery and the benefits to the judicial system which flow therefrom.” Crawford v.
State, 948 N.E.2d 1165, 1169 (Ind. 2011) (citation and quotation marks omitted).
The Board contends that Williams‟s request for “any and all” of his prescription
records is “overly broad.” Appellee‟s Br. at 8. Given that the INSPECT database is
computerized, one would reasonably expect that producing “any and all” of Williams‟s
prescription records would not be especially burdensome. As such, the scope of his request
is not particularly concerning here. The Board also contends that Williams “can obtain the
information regarding any legally obtained prescriptions from the treating physicians in this
matter.” Id. We disagree. As mentioned earlier, Williams could not remember the specific
pharmacies that allegedly dispensed his prescriptions, and thus obtaining his records from the
INSPECT database would verify whether those prescriptions were actually dispensed to him.
There is no indication that such information would be available from his treating physicians.
Regarding the second part of the three-part test, “[a]n item is „material‟ if it appears
that it might benefit the preparation of the defendant‟s case. The relevance of some
information or items may be self-evident.” Cline, 693 N.E.2d at 7 (citation omitted). Here,
the relevance of Williams‟s prescription records is indeed self-evident, in that they would
establish (or at least help to establish) a complete defense to the two possession charges.
Having concluded that Williams has made a sufficient showing of both particularity
and materiality, we now address whether the Board has shown a paramount interest in the
nondisclosure of Williams‟s prescription records. “Whether a sufficient interest has been
shown to prevent discovery will depend upon the type of interest put forth and the category
13
of information sought. A legitimate interest in keeping the information or items confidential,
for example, may suffice to deny discovery.” Id. (citation and quotation marks omitted).
Here, the Board emphasizes the confidentiality provisions of Indiana Code Section 35-48-7-
11.1 and says,
The information may only be disclosed to those persons or agencies delineated
in the statute. Ind. Code § 35-48-7-11.1(b). There is no exception for
disclosure by the Board to parties not listed in the statute. Moreover, it is a
criminal offense for anyone to disclose information in violation of the statute.
Ind. Code § 35-48-7-14.[4]
Appellee‟s Br. at 5.
It seems obvious that the confidentiality provisions of Indiana Code Section 35-48-7-
11.1 were enacted to uphold the protections of the physician-patient privilege and the
pharmacist-patient privilege. Where, as here, a patient seeks to waive those privileges for the
purpose of exercising his or her constitutional right to present a complete defense to charges
in a criminal case, both the rationale for and the Board‟s interest in keeping the patient‟s
prescription records confidential evaporate. See Crane v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 683, 690
(1986) (“Whether rooted directly in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,
or in the Compulsory Process or Confrontation clauses of the Sixth Amendment, the
Constitution guarantees criminal defendants a meaningful opportunity to present a complete
4
See Ind. Code § 35-48-7-14 (“A person who knowingly or intentionally violates this chapter
commits a Class A misdemeanor.”).
14
defense.”) (citations and quotation marks omitted).5 Therefore, we conclude that the trial
court abused its discretion in granting the Board‟s motion to quash Williams‟s subpoena and
reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
BAILEY, J., and MATHIAS, J., concur.
5
The Board argues that it
has been provided with no mechanism by the legislature for disclosing information in the
INSPECT database directly to a court or third parties not listed in the statute. There is no way
for the Board to know when it receives a subpoena whether the information being sought is
indeed related to an individual seeking his own records or the records of a third-party, nor is
there a blanket exemption for release of the records to a third party if there is a criminal
proceeding. It places the Board in an untenable and burdensome position of having to
challenge in the trial courts all subpoenas issued to it where information is sought by a party
not listed in the statute to ensure that it does not violate the statute and commit a possible
criminal offense.
Appellee‟s Br. at 7. Williams points out that his subpoena and discovery request are captioned with his name,
and thus “it is apparent from the face of these documents that Williams is seeking his own records and not
those of another person.” Appellant‟s Reply Br. at 3. As for the Board‟s fear of being placed in “an untenable
and burdensome position” by similar subpoenas, we note that the Board could petition the legislature to create
a blanket exemption for release of prescription records to third parties in criminal proceedings (such as the one
applicable to pharmacists under Indiana Code Section 25-26-13-15) and adopt its own rules for handling such
releases. See Ind. Code §§ 35-48-7-12.1(a) (“The board shall adopt rules under IC 4-22-2 to implement this
chapter ….”), -11.1(f) (“Before the board releases confidential information under subsection (d), the applicant
must be approved by the INSPECT program in a manner prescribed by the board.”).
15