Case Title: State v. Palmer

Citation: 1998-Ohio-663

Docket Number: 19972406

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 1998-12-09T00:00:00Z

Document:
THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLEE, v. PALMER, APPELLANT. 
[Cite as State v. Palmer (1998), ___ Ohio St.3d ___.] 
Criminal law – Time for trial – R.C. 2945.72(B) – Competency – Time within 
which accused must be brought to trial is tolled from date accused files a 
motion challenging competency to stand trial – Tolling of R.C. 2945.72(B) 
continues until trial court makes a competency determination. 
1. 
Pursuant to R.C. 2945.72(B), the time within which an accused must be 
brought to trial is tolled from the date the accused files a motion challenging 
his or her competency to stand trial. 
2. 
The tolling of R.C. 2945.72(B) continues until the trial court makes a 
competency determination and does not end when a competency examiner 
fails to issue a report within the time limits imposed by former R.C. 
2945.371(D). 
(No. 97-2046 – Submitted October 13, 1998 – Decided December 9, 1998.) 
CERTIFIED by the Court of Appeals for Trumbull County, No. 95-T-5180. 
 
Willard Palmer, defendant-appellant, was arrested on July 18, 1994 for 
aggravated robbery and felonious assault of a police officer, and was held in jail in 
lieu of bail.  On October 6, 1994, appellant filed a motion to determine his 
competency to stand trial.  The trial court granted the motion on October 18, 1994, 
and ordered a competency evaluation.  Although a competency report was written 
by an examiner, it was not made part of the record.  On November 30, 1994, a 
competency hearing was held, at which time appellant was found competent to 
stand trial.  The court set a trial date for December 5, 1994.  On December 1, 1994, 
appellant filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that his speedy trial rights were 
violated.  On December 2, 1994, the trial court denied the motion to dismiss, and 
the case proceeded to trial as scheduled.  The jury found appellant guilty of the 
 
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crimes as charged.  Appellant was sentenced to an indeterminate term of ten to 
twenty-five years on the felonious assault conviction and eight to twenty-five 
years on the aggravated robbery conviction.  The sentences were ordered to be 
served consecutively. 
 
The Court of Appeals for Trumbull County affirmed appellant’s convictions 
and found no speedy trial violations.  The court held that the computation of days 
for speedy trial purposes was tolled from October 6, 1994, the date appellant filed 
his motion to determine competency, until the date the court ruled on the motion, 
which was November 30, 1994.  Excluding these days, the court determined that 
appellant was brought to trial within the time required under R.C. 2945.71.  
Finding its holding to be in conflict with two decisions from the Twelfth District, 
the court of appeals certified two questions to this court for review.  The cause is 
now before this court upon our determination that a conflict exists. 
__________________ 
 
Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County Prosecuting Attorney, and LuWayne 
Annos, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee. 
 
Morganstern, MacAdams & DeVito Co., L.P.A., and Michael A. Partlow, for 
appellant. 
__________________ 
 
FRANCIS E. SWEENEY, SR., J.  Two issues are certified for our review:  “(1) 
Whether the time period within which an accused must be brought to trial is tolled 
from the date that a motion to determine the accused’s competency to stand trial is 
filed or on the date on which a competency examination is ordered by the trial 
court[;] (2) Whether the speedy trial statutory time may continue to be tolled when 
the examiner’s report is not filed within the thirty[-]day time period specified in 
R.C. 2945.371(D).”  In answering the first certified question, we find that the time 
 
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period within which an accused must be brought to trial is tolled from the date the 
competency motion is filed.  As to the second certified question, we find that the 
tolling of the speedy trial time period does not end when an examiner fails to issue 
a timely report.  Instead, the time continues to be tolled until the court determines 
whether the accused is competent to stand trial.  Since we find that appellant’s 
speedy trial rights were not violated, we affirm the judgment of the court of 
appeals. 
 
R.C. 2945.71(C)(2) provides that an individual who has been charged with a 
felony offense must be brought to trial within two hundred and seventy days after 
his arrest.  If the accused is held in jail in lieu of bail, each day counts as three 
days, and the accused therefore must be brought to trial within ninety days after 
his arrest.  R.C. 2945.71(E).  Pursuant to R.C. 2945.72, the time within which an 
accused must be brought to trial may be extended for those reasons specifically 
enumerated in the statute.  One such reason for an extension is where the 
competency of the accused is being challenged.  In particular, R.C. 2945.72(B) 
provides that the time may be extended for “[a]ny period during which the accused 
is mentally incompetent to stand trial or during which his mental competence to 
stand trial is being determined  * * *.”  (Emphasis added.) 
 
We are asked to decide when the extension allowed under R.C. 2945.72(B) 
begins to run—on the date the competency motion is filed or on the date the trial 
court grants the motion?  Appellant urges this court to apply the Twelfth District 
holdings of State v. Wilson (1982), 7 Ohio App.3d 219, 7 OBR 281, 454 N.E.2d 
1348, and State v. Bowman (1987), 41 Ohio App.3d 318, 535 N.E.2d 730.  In both 
Wilson and Bowman, the appellate court held that the running of the time limit for 
trial is tolled when the motion for a competency evaluation is granted. 
 
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Appellee, however, urges us to reject the reasoning employed in Wilson and 
Bowman.  Instead, appellee contends that the clear language of R.C. 2945.72(B) 
dictates that the time is tolled from the point the competency motion is filed.  To 
support its decision, appellee relies on two decisions from this court, State v. 
Walker (1976), 46 Ohio St.2d 157, 75 O.O.2d 201, 346 N.E.2d 687, and State v. 
Spratz (1979), 58 Ohio St.2d 61, 12 O.O.3d 77, 388 N.E.2d 751, which address 
the tolling of the speedy trial time where pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity 
are involved.  Although acknowledging that this case involves a competency issue, 
appellee nonetheless urges this court to apply the same standard that was used in 
those cases. 
 
In Walker, we held that the speedy trial time was tolled from when the 
accused tendered his or her plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.  We stated, at 
paragraph two of the syllabus, that “[t]he time elapsing between the tendering of a 
plea of ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ and a finding of mental competency to 
stand trial directly resulting from such plea shall not be included in computing 
days under R.C. 2945.71.”  This holding was followed in Spratz.  Using this 
reasoning, appellee maintains that where a competency issue is raised, the time is 
tolled from when the accused files his or her competency motion until the court 
makes a finding on whether the accused is competent to stand trial. 
 
We agree with appellee’s position.  The express language of R.C. 
2945.72(B) is broadly worded to include any period in which the accused’s mental 
competency is being determined.  Thus, when the accused files a motion with the 
trial court for a competency evaluation, he or she is placing the court on notice 
that competency is at issue.  It is at this time, when the competency motion is filed, 
that the tolling provision of R.C. 2945.72(B) comes into play.  Therefore, we find 
that, pursuant to R.C. 2945.72(B), the time within which an accused must be 
 
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brought to trial is tolled from the date the accused files a motion challenging his or 
her competency to stand trial. 
 
The second issue is whether the tolling period ends when an examiner who 
is ordered to file a competency report fails to do so within the prescribed statutory 
time frame of former R.C. 2945.371(D).  Former R.C. 2945.371(D) provided that 
where a trial court orders a competency examination, the examiner’s report shall 
be filed with the court within thirty days after entry of an order for examination.  
Pursuant to R.C. 2945.37(A), a hearing must then be held within ten days after the 
filing of the report (which is forty days from when the court orders the evaluation). 
In this case, no report was filed with the court, and the competency hearing was 
held on November 30, 1994, forty-three days after the trial court ordered a 
competency evaluation (rather than the forty days prescribed by statute). 
 
Appellant argues that to prevent an indefinite tolling of the statute, the 
tolling period should have ended when the examiner’s report was due (on 
November 17, 1994).  Appellant again relies on State v. Wilson, at paragraph two 
of the syllabus, and State v. Bowman.  In Bowman, the court held that “[i]f a report 
of a psychiatric examination is not filed when due, time begins to run again after 
the due date.”  Id. at paragraph one of the syllabus. 
 
Again, we reject the holdings of these decisions.  As previously stated, R.C. 
2945.72(B) clearly provides that the speedy trial time is extended by “any period” 
during which the accused’s competency is being determined.  The statutory 
extension in R.C. 2945.72(B) is not limited to a specific time period.  Nowhere in 
R.C. 2945.72 or former R.C. 2945.371 does it state that if a report is not filed 
when due, the tolling period ends and time begins to run again for speedy trial 
purposes.  As stated by one appeals court, “[a]lthough the language of R.C. 
2945.37(D) [sic, 2945.371(D) ]  * * * is mandatory, its mandates are directed at 
 
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the examination proceedings and hearings thereon, not the speedy trial 
provisions.”  State v. Hickman (Sept. 27, 1985), Ashtabula App. No. 1201, 
unreported, 1985 WL 10035.  Therefore, the tolling effect of R.C. 2945.72(B) 
cannot be cut short by an examiner’s failure to file a competency report within the 
prescribed time frame.1  Consequently, we hold that the tolling of R.C. 2945.72(B) 
continues until the trial court makes a competency determination and does not end 
when a competency examiner fails to issue a report within the time limits imposed 
by former R.C. 2945.371(D). 
 
With these principles in mind, we now compute the days that ran for speedy 
trial purposes to see whether appellant was brought to trial within the confines of 
the speedy trial statutes.  Since appellant was held in jail in lieu of bond and since 
each day in jail is counted as three days, he was required to be brought to trial 
within ninety days after his arrest.  As previously discussed, we do not consider 
the time from when appellant filed his competency motion (October 6, 1994) until 
the date appellant was found competent to stand trial (November 30, 1994).  
However, in computing the remaining days (which ran from the time of arrest until 
the date of trial), we find that fewer than ninety days had passed.  Consequently, 
appellant was brought to trial in compliance with the speedy trial statutes, and his 
statutory speedy trial rights were not violated. 
 
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, PFEIFER, COOK and LUNDBERG STRATTON, 
JJ., concur. 
FOOTNOTE 
 
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1. 
We by no means advocate the failure of an examiner to timely file a report.  
However, if a defendant is dissatisfied with the slow response time, he or she can 
petition the court to enforce its order or request a hearing.