Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/362/362mass738.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 18:18:20+00:00

Document:
COMMONWEALTH vs. FRANKLIN D. HORNE.
INDICTMENTS found and returned in the Superior Court on June 9, 1967.
A motion to dismiss the indictments was heard by Hennessey, J.
to commit larceny (Indictment No. 42632), kidnapping (Indictment No. 42633), armed robbery (Indictment No. 42634), assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (Indictment Nos. 42635 and 42636) and escape (Indictment No. 42637). The indictments were returned June 9, 1967, in the Superior Court in Norfolk County. The actual trial on these indictments did not begin until June, 1971. The only error assigned and argued was the denial of the defendant's motion to dismiss the indictments. The defendant contends that the failure of the Commonwealth to try the defendant between June 9, 1967, and October 13, 1970, deprived him of his constitutional right to a speedy trial guaranteed by art. 11 of our Declaration of Rights and the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, applicable to the States under the Fourteenth Amendment. Commonwealth v. Hanley, 337 Mass. 384 , cert. den. sub nom. Hanley v. Massachusetts, 358 U.S. 850. Commonwealth v. Chase, 348 Mass. 100 . Klopfer v. North Carolina, 386 U.S. 213. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514.
1971, was for the most part due to the defendant's temporary transfer to a Federal institution in Georgia. This was upon his motion for purposes of prosecuting civil actions brought by him in that jurisdiction, and he stipulated that the delay so caused was not material in the instant case.
The facts of this case present a close question as to whether Horne's failure to press his motion for a speedy trial and his acquiescence in the filing of the indictments constituted a knowing and voluntary waiver of his right to a speedy trial. However, even if we assume that the prosecution did not satisfy its burden of showing that Horne intentionally relinquished a known right, see Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 464, our consideration of the reason for the delay between indictment and trial and the claim of prejudice involved lead us to conclude that the defendant's constitutional right to a speedy trial was not denied.
LENGTH AND REASON FOR DELAY.
The three year four month delay between indictment and the defendant's motion to dismiss is sufficient to "trigger" a careful examination of the reasons for the delay. The mere fact that the defendant was in custody in another jurisdiction after his escape from the Correctional Institute at Walpole does not affect his right to a speedy trial on the charges stemming from the escape. The key issue presented by the facts of the instant case is whether the Commonwealth took "reasonable action to prevent undue delay in bringing a defendant to trial." Commonwealth v. McGrath, 348 Mass. 748 , 752.
or even possible during this period for the Massachusetts authorities to obtain the custody of the defendant for a sufficient number of weeks or months to accomplish the trial of the Massachusetts indictments." As soon as the district attorney learned that the defendant's Federal trial had ended and the defendant had started to serve a thirty-six and one-half year sentence, he lodged a capias against him (August, 1968). When the defendant demanded a speedy trial on these indictments, he was promptly brought before the court. Even if the defendant's acquiescence in the filing of the indictments did not constitute a total waiver, the defendant must have realized that filing would cause further delay before he was actually brought to trial. The evidence supports the judge's finding "from the entire proceedings including the fact that competent counsel had explained to the defendant (before March 13, 1969) the meaning of filing with a change of plea to guilty . . . that the defendant, in moving by his own counsel to have the indictments filed while representing to the court that the defendant was serving a 36 1/2 year federal sentence, appreciated that the trial of the indictments . . . [was] being indefinitely deferred in recognition only of the long federal sentence then existing." Thus, the defendant was responsible for this three month delay caused by the filing of the indictments.
of thirty-six and one-half years. This sentence led to the original agreement to file the Massachusetts indictments. After the defendant's acquittal in the second Federal trial, the district attorney moved promptly to bring the defendant to trial. A further lengthy delay (November, 1969-August, 1970) was caused by the defendant's opposition to rendition proceedings instituted by Massachusetts. The trial judge found that "[t]he district attorney brought the defendant before the court and moved for trial at the first criminal session of the court after the defendant's return to Massachusetts was finally procured."
Thus, we conclude that the delay in the defendant's trial (approximately two years and four months) caused by the Commonwealth [Note 2] between indictment and trial was justified by the Commonwealth's decision to defer trial of the defendant until two contemporaneous Federal trials on unrelated Federal indictments had been completed. Such deference to another jurisdiction appears to be reasonable where different jurisdictions have indicted the same individual for different crimes. In this case, the Commonwealth's decision to defer to the jurisdiction that had immediate custody of the defendant was reasonable and does not constitute an unreasonable denial of a speedy trial. See Commonwealth v. Domanski, 332 Mass. 66 , at 72-73.
rests on a letter written by Dr. Rosenwald to the court. Dr. Rosenwald noted, "[I]t is my opinion that any opinion on my part as to the defendant's psychiatric condition on May 21, 1967, would have to be based largely on the previous psychiatric examinations and their consistency with the findings of a current examination. . . . [T]he closer to . . . [May 21, 1967] that the examination occurred the more certainty it would have, but after a period of five to six months it is most unlikely that further delay would make any difference." Since the defence did present an expert witness, Dr. Dearman, who testified that the defendant was a psychopath on May 21, 1967, the prejudice caused by delay was the loss of possible corroborating psychiatric testimony. His claim of prejudice is based on the speculation that if psychiatrists had examined him within six months of his escape, they might have assisted in his defence. This type of speculative evidence is totally insufficient to show that the delay actually impaired the defendant's defence; especially where the potential harm was not the product of an unreasonable delay by the Commonwealth in bringing the defendant to trial.
In the absence of any unreasonable delay or serious prejudice to the defendant's defence, we find that the defendant's right to a speedy trial was not denied.
[Note 1] However, the policy considerations noted in the Marsh case concerning defendants "interested only in laying the groundwork for dismissal in the event of delay," supra, at 718, still may be considered in the delicate balancing test we must make in determining whether the defendant's speedy trial right has been denied.
[Note 2] We need not consider the other delays caused by the filing of the indictments (three months) and the defendant's opposition to rendition proceedings (nine months). As we noted in Commonwealth v. Loftis, 361 Mass. 545 , 549-550, "it would be unconscionable to permit the defendant to take advantage of a situation where a substantial part of the delay in the disposition of the cases was obviously caused by him."

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