Prosecutors have a duty to disclose evidence that is favorable to the defense. This obligation arises from a defendant's constitutional right to due process of law, and aims to ensure that defendants receive fair trials. Evidence that is favorable to the defense is called exculpatory evidence. Exculpatory evidence may include information that shows that a law enforcement officer lacks credibility as a witness. This type of information is often kept in protected personnel files. Because “the practical reality is that prosecutors cannot review every officer’s personnel file in every case” (see "Law Enforcement Memorandum: The Exculpatory Evidence Protocol and Schedule" (March 21, 2017)) the names of officers that may have potentially exculpatory information in their personnel files are added to a list now called the “Exculpatory Evidence Schedule” (EES). The EES alerts prosecutors to the need to inquire into whether an officer's personnel file might contain exculpatory evidence.
The EES was once known as the “Laurie List” after the 1995 case State v. Laurie and it is still referred to that way in many sources. Other jurisdictions call these lists the Brady List, Liar’s List, or the Giglio List. According to the 2017 memo, “inclusion on the EES does not mean that an officer is necessarily untrustworthy or dishonest. It only means that there is information in the officer’s personnel file that must be disclosed to a criminal defendant if the facts of the case warrant that disclosure.” The factors that may result in an officer being included on the list are:
The New Hampshire Attorney General now maintains and updates the EES. The EES was a confidential document not subject to public disclosure, but an October 2020 decision, New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism v. New Hampshire Department of Justice, upheld a trial court’s determination that the EES is not confidential under RSA 105:13-b nor exempt from disclosure under the Right-to-Know Law either because it is an “internal personnel practice” or a “personnel file”.
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