30. Should I send the State my own discovery requests?

If there are things that you think the State knows, or documents, pictures, or video that you think the State has that could help you prove your arguments, you should make a discovery request. The State must respond to your requests; but the State's responses to your discovery requests are allowed to have written objections like the ones listed in Question 28.

Note:  Requests for discovery are not filed with the court, but are only served on the State and any other parties. You can serve a document on the State by hand-delivering a copy of the document, mailing it, faxing it, or emailing it to the State's attorney. You can serve a document on another party by hand-delivering a copy of the document, mailing it, faxing it, or emailing it to that party's attorney. If the party does not have an attorney, you serve it directly on that party.

In our example, Steve may want to make discovery requests for any video or audio recording of Officer Potts' traffic stop that led to the seizure of Steve’s money. Steve may also want to request any written reports filed by Officer Potts about the traffic stop and seizure.