Discovery is the evidence relating to the charges or to sentencing that is produced by the Government. Discovery can be five pages long, consisting of a rap sheet and a police report. It can also be hundreds of thousands of pages of documents in a complex fraud case. Discovery can include photographs of the scene, an informant’s name and background, or forensic evidence such as fingerprints, phone records or DNA analysis.
When an attorney is appointed to represent a defendant, one of his or her first jobs is to ask for Discovery from the Government.  In rare cases, an attorney may opt to not request Discovery so that the defense does not have to provide Discovery to the government of the documents which will be important to the defense.
Please be advised that the rules require the defense to provide Discovery to the Government of any documents or evidence which the defense expects to use in its case at trial also. That means if there are important documents that will be necessary to your defense, discuss and provide them to your attorney, because the failure to provide this information to the Government prior to trial can result in the judge ruling that it cannot be used in your defense.