Title: Saxton v. State
Citation: 394 So. 2d 871
Docket Number: 52278
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: February 18, 1981

394 So. 2d 871 (1981) Shannon Clayton SAXTON v. STATE of Mississippi. No. 52278. Supreme Court of Mississippi. February 18, 1981. Rehearing Denied March 18, 1981. Perry E. Brown, Jr., Jackson, for appellant. Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Karen Gilfoy, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. Before SMITH, P.J., and SUGG and LEE, JJ. SMITH, Presiding Justice, for the Court: This case involves an appeal from the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, wherein appellant was tried and convicted of the crime of armed robbery and sentenced to the custody of the Department of Corrections to serve a term of twenty-five years, with service of nineteen years suspended, six years to be served with five years on supervised probation. *872 The State expressly accepts appellant's abstract of record and there is no dispute in the material facts of the case. As stated in the brief filed on behalf of appellant Saxton, the facts were as follows: The single proposition advanced by appellant for reversal is stated in his brief as follows: The State of Mississippi points out that the single issue presented on appeal is whether or not Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-17-1 (Supp. 1980) denied the appellant his right to a speedy trial as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article III, Section 26 of the Mississippi Constitution. In connection with this conclusion, the State invites the court's attention to the fact that *873 the appellant did not challenge the constitutionality of section 99-17-1 in the trial court and therefore, the state asserts, the appellant is precluded from raising the issue on appeal under the well settled rule that "matters other than jurisdiction not raised in the trial court may not be raised for the first time on appeal." Citing Williamson v. State, 330 So. 2d 272, 276 (Miss. 1976). The crime occurred on July 6, 1977. Appellant testified that he was arrested and jailed in Louisiana on July 11, 1977 and placed in the Dixon Correctional Institute in Louisiana on February 2, 1978. On March 7, 1978 appellant was indicted in Mississippi and on that date Lt. Cumberland of the Jackson Police Department sent a letter, with a copy of the bench warrant, to the Dixon Correctional Institute, asking that a detainer be lodged against Saxton. By letter dated April 1, 1978, Lt. Cumberland was informed that a detainer against appellant was effective as of that date April 1, 1978. On March 2, 1979 appellant filed a motion for a speedy trial in the Circuit Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi. On April 5, 1979 the District Attorney called the Louisiana Department of Corrections, the Louisiana Attorney General's office and the Probation and Parole Board of Louisiana and ascertained that appellant was serving four years for attempted armed robbery and his release date was November 1, 1979. On April 6, 1979 the District Attorney's office wrote a letter to the warden of Dixon Correctional Institute stating that Saxton's case was set for trial on June 12, 1979 and asking the earliest date appellant could be available "for action on this matter pending in our jurisdiction." On April 11, 1979, the Louisiana Department of Corrections wrote the District Attorney: On June 25, 1979, the requisite extradition papers were forwarded to the Mississippi Attorney General to be approved as to form and forwarded to the Governor of Louisiana. On July 30, 1979 appellant filed a pro se motion for dismissal of charges against him. On August 24, 1979 appellant was served with a copy of the indictment at the Hinds County Detention Center. On October 1, 1979 an amended motion for dismissal was filed. On November 27, 1979, following a hearing on the motions, the motions were denied and the case proceeded to trial which resulted in appellant's conviction. The State makes no issue of the fact that Lt. Cumberland is an arm of the prosecutor's office and his actions may be imputed to the prosecutor, although it is uncontradicted that, as a matter of fact, the District Attorney did not know the whereabouts of the appellant until the appellant had filed his motion for a speedy trial. The State points out that Saxton waited over a year to request a speedy trial, even though he testified that he learned of the "hold" on him in March, 1978. As soon as the prosecutor learned of the whereabouts of appellant, he set in motion the legal proceedings to have him returned for trial which was originally set for June 12, 1979. The delay occasioned by the extradition proceedings was minimal and appellant was returned to Mississippi on August 24, 1979. It is pointed out that the next time that appellant conceivably could have been tried would have been during the next regular term of the circuit court, which began the first Monday of September, 1979, scheduled to continue for thirty-six days. The case was set for trial and was tried on the first day of the November, 1979 term. Appellant cites five decisions of the United States Supreme Court, contending that they support his contentions in this case. These cases are: Dillingham v. United States, 423 U.S. 64, 96 S. Ct. 303, 46 L. Ed. 2d 205 (1975); Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S. Ct. 2182, 33 L. Ed. 2d 101 (1972); United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 92 S. Ct. 455, 30 L. Ed. 2d 468 (1971); Dickey v. Florida, 398 U.S. 30, 90 S. Ct. 1564, 26 L. Ed. 2d 26 (1970). *874 The State takes issue with this conclusion and discusses each of the cited cases in its brief. It is the State's position that the rule announced in Barker v. Wingo, supra, when applied to the facts of the present case, does not support the premise that appellant Saxton was deprived of a speedy trial. In Barker v. Wingo, the United States Supreme Court reached the conclusion that, in cases in which a question is raised as to the denial of a defendant's right to a speedy trial, each case must be considered upon an ad hoc basis, and decided upon its own peculiar facts. Instead of attempting to categorize these cases, the Court, in Baker v. Wingo, set out a "balancing test" to be used in passing upon the question, and identified the factors to be considered. These were "[l]ength of delay, the reason for the delay, the defendant's assertion of his right, and prejudice to the defendant." 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S. Ct. at 2192, 33 L. Ed. 2d at 117. The United States Supreme Court said: The Court said further: There is no suggestion in the present case of "a deliberate attempt (by the State) to delay the trial in order to hamper the defense", nor is there anything in the case to show bad faith on the part of the prosecution. On the other hand, it appears that as soon as the prosecuting authorities learned of Saxton's request to be tried steps were promptly begun to procure his return to Mississippi for trial, and there was no unreasonable delay in obtaining his return. The fourth factor "prejudice to the defendant" is based largely upon Saxton's assertion that, because of delay, he could not locate an alibi witness whose name, he said, was "Sandy something", Saxton asserting that he did not know her name or whereabouts. Saxton's memory remained vague as to the identity of this alleged female companion even after the State, on cross-examination, suggested to him that "Sandy something" was Sandy Ann Melson, also wanted in Rankin County, Mississippi on a criminal charge and whose whereabouts the State was anxious to learn. In the light of Saxton's inability to supply information as to the whereabouts of the supposed "alibi" witness, even being unable to give her name, it is difficult to see how anything could have been done to procure the presence of this unknown person at any time. There is no imaginable case in which a similar claim might not be *875 made with impunity, since the identity of the claimed witness is unknown and thus the claim would be impossible of being contradicted or refuted by direct evidence. It is this type of "uncontradicted" testimony that is not necessarily conclusive upon the trier of facts, and may be given such weight, if any, as the trier of facts may judge that it merits. The statement of Saxton as to the existence of this unknown alibi witness, in the context of all of the evidence, was not sufficient to show that he was prejudiced by delay on the part of the State in bringing him to trial. Smith v. Hooey, 393 U.S. 374, 89 S. Ct. 575, 21 L. Ed. 2d 607 (1969), cited by appellant, was a case in which the defendant made a written request for a speedy trial and continued to do so for the next six years. The United States Supreme Court said that there were procedures readily available to the State of Texas to bring him to trial but he was denied all relief. The United States Supreme Court concluded: "Upon the petitioner's demand, Texas had a constitutional duty to make a diligent, good-faith effort to bring him before the Harris County court for trial." (Id. at 383, 89 S. Ct. at 579, 21 L.Ed.2d at 614). If we assume that the issue as to the constitutionality of Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-17-1 (Supp. 1980) had been properly presented in the lower court and, therefore, is before this Court on appeal, we have concluded that the statute is not unconstitutional. Moreover, the decision of the question of the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of this statute is not necessary to a determination of this case. It is the conclusion of this Court that there was no bad faith on the part of the State in connection with the delay in bringing Saxton to trial, that the actions taken by the State after learning of Saxton's request for a speedy trial were reasonably and diligently pursued. Nor was it established (despite Saxton's claim that he was unable to locate "Sandy something") that Saxton suffered any prejudice by reason of the delay. Since no other challenge is made to Saxton's conviction of the crime of armed robbery, his conviction and sentence must be, and are, affirmed. AFFIRMED. PATTERSON, C.J., ROBERTSON, P.J., and SUGG, WALKER, BROOM, LEE, BOWLING and HAWKINS, JJ., concur.