Opinion ID: 1324615
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Failure to Assert the Right to Speedy Trial in Post-Trial Motions

Text: The State contends that this Court should refuse to consider the Appellant's arguments regarding alleged constitutional violations based upon the delay between the arrest and the indictment because the Appellant failed to bring these issues to the trial court's attention on post-trial motions. Indeed, this Court explained in syllabus point two of State v. Salmons, 203 W.Va. 561, 509 S.E.2d 842 (1998), that [a]s a general matter, a defendant may not assign as error, for the first time on direct appeal, an issue that could have been presented initially for review by the trial court on a post-trial motion. See also State v. Noll, 223 W.Va. 6, 672 S.E.2d 142 (2008). However, this Court's review of the record indicates that although the Appellant failed to re-assert these issues in a post-trial motion, he did raise them in a pre-trial motion to dismiss, unlike the factual situations existing in Salmons and Noll. Thus, the trial court was presented with an opportunity to rule on the issues currently raised on appeal. Other jurisdictions have addressed the ramifications of such a situation. In People v. Patterson, 392 Ill.App.3d 461, 332 Ill.Dec. 58, 912 N.E.2d 244 (2009), for instance, the appellate court determined that it would consider the defendant's speedy trial claim on appeal, despite the defendant's failure to raise that issue in a post-trial motion since the issue was fully considered by the trial court, both at a hearing on the initial motion to dismiss and at a hearing on a motion to reconsider before trial began. Similarly, in People v. Exson, 384 Ill. App.3d 794, 324 Ill.Dec. 768, 896 N.E.2d 844 (2008), the appellate court decided to consider the merits of a defendant's statutory speedy trial claim despite his failure to raise the issue in his post-trial motion. The trial court had specifically commented upon the speedy trial issue when it granted the state's motion for a continuance beyond the 120-day statutory speedy-trial period. The appellate court therefore found that raising the issue in a written post-trial motion would not have changed the outcome in trial court. This Court's general rule is that nonjurisdictional questions not raised at the circuit court level will not be considered to the first time on appeal. Whitlow v. Bd. of Educ. of Kanawha County, 190 W.Va. 223, 226, 438 S.E.2d 15, 18 (1993). The rationale behind this rule is that when an issue has not been raised below, the facts underlying that issue will not have been developed in such a way so that a disposition can be made on appeal. Moreover, we consider the element of fairness. When a case has proceeded to its ultimate resolution below, it is manifestly unfair for a party to raise new issues on appeal. Finally, there is also a need to have the issue refined, developed, and adjudicated by the trial court, so that we may have the benefit of its wisdom. Id. at 226, 438 S.E.2d at 18. Thus, our guiding precept in this regard is that the trial court must be provided with an opportunity to rule on issues properly before it and that it would be improper for this Court to rule on an issue on which the trial court had not first passed judgment. However, where the specific issue is of such a nature that it was raised and fully considered in a pre-trial motion, that requirement has been satisfied, and this Court is free to consider the issue on appeal. Thus, although this Court has held that a defendant may not assign an error for the first time on appeal that could have been presented initially for review in a post-trial motion, failure to raise an issue in a post-trial motion will not prevent this Court from entertaining that issue on appeal where it is clear that the trial court carefully and completely considered that specific issue in a pre-trial motion. Based upon the Appellant's assertion of these claims in a pre-trial hearing and the fact that the trial court fully evaluated these claims at that juncture, this Court will review the Appellant's assertions of these assignments of error.