Opinion ID: 2263096
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Denial of Requests for Continuance

Text: Appellant argues for reversible error in that the lower court denied requests for a continuance of the trial and sentencing by his then defense counsel, Warren Brown, Esq. Mr. Brown asserted that he would not be prepared for the trial or sentencing without the continuance. Initially, an assistant public defender represented Appellant with regard to the charges. In March 2004, the public defender and Appellant's mother informed the trial court that Appellant planned to engage Mr. Brown as privately-retained counsel to represent him at trial and that Mr. Brown required a continuance of trial, which was then scheduled to begin on 6 April 2004. At a hearing on 5 April 2004, the court noted that Mr. Brown had not entered his appearance yet, but, nonetheless he had been made aware of the scheduled hearing and trial dates. Upon inquiry, Appellant stated that he wanted to proceed with his assigned public defender as counsel. The trial date was re-set to 23 August 2004 to accommodate the conduct of the competency proceeding. On 16 July 2004, Mr. Brown entered his appearance in the case and the Public Defender's Office filed a motion to strike that office's appearance. The matter was considered by the trial judge at a hearing on 6 August 2004. Mr. Brown requested a postponement of the trial because he now expressed the desire to retain his own defense experts to examine the blood and soil samples. In response, the State told the court that it had supplied the relevant discovery to the Public Defender's Office previously and that it initiated no challenge to the forensics at the suppression hearings. In addition, the State noted that Mr. Brown had represented Appellant in related matters before the federal district court for months prior to entering his appearance in the present case. The trial judge referred the matter to the Circuit Administrative Judge, who denied the request stating, I am not satisfied that the reasons at this point in time two weeks prior to trial are satisfactory. The decision whether to grant a request for continuance is committed to the sound discretion of the court. Ware v. State, 360 Md. 650, 706, 759 A.2d 764, 794 (2000). We conclude that the court's decision to deny Appellant's request for continuance was not an abuse of discretion. Over five months elapsed between the announcement of Brown's involvement in Appellant's defense (although he did not enter his appearance formally until 16 July) and the commencement of trial on 23 August 2004. During that time, whether formally represented by the Public Defender's Office or Mr. Brown, Appellant did not take issue with the State's potential forensic evidence, for which full discovery had been provided, until two weeks prior to the scheduled commencement of trial. Moreover, Appellant (and Mr. Brown) received the benefit for trial preparation purposes of the continuance of the trial date from 6 April to 23 August to accommodate the competency inquiry. We therefore find a reasonable basis for the lower court's decision to deny the request. We likewise find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's denial of Appellant's request for continuance of sentencing. The trial court set the date of sentencing with the assistance of the prosecutor and defense counsel, Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown filed a Motion for Continuance with the court around 4 November (nine days before the sentencing hearing) because he found it difficult to focus the necessary attention on the case with its troubling facts and because the witnesses who had worked with the public defender to develop evidence of mitigating circumstances were not prepared for the hearing as a result of a mis-communication by Mr. Brown. The trial court, in its order denying the request, stated: This case has a long and troubled history. The indictment was brought fourth by the Grand Jury of Harford County and the case was transferred to Baltimore County and assigned to the Honorable J. Norris Byrnes. Months went in to the preparation for trial, and Judge Byrnes was struck with an illness prior to trial, necessitating a transfer of the case to this Court. This Court has had numerous hearings and an attempted trial through jury selection; there have been hearings on the competency of the Defendant. Finally, in August, 2004 a court trial was concluded and the Defendant found guilty. The dates that were set aside for the sentencing hearing, November 15, 16 and 17, 2004, have been cleared by this Court, the various witnesses and the Assignment Office and will not be postponed. We conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion because sound reasons existed for the decision. The reasons offered by Appellant for the continuance of trial and sentencing, as he concedes, boil down to absence of preparation. We reiterate what we stated in Ware, [i]f Appellant is raising an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, it is more properly raised in post-conviction proceedings. See Perry v. State, 344 Md. 204, 227-28, 686 A.2d 274, 285 (1996). Ware, 360 Md. at 706, 759 A.2d at 793-94. The primary reason for this rule is that, ordinarily, the trial record does not illuminate the basis for the challenged acts or omissions of counsel. In re Parris W., 363 Md. 717, 726, 770 A.2d 202, 207 (2001) (citing Johnson v. State, 292 Md. 405, 434-35, 439 A.2d 542, 559 (1982)). We shall not disturb the exercise of the trial court's discretion on this record in the direct appeal. 4.