Opinion ID: 1980967
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Speedy Trial or Due Process?

Text: Alston's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial embraces the period between arrest and trial, here 4½ months (October 14, 1974-February 24, 1975). [6] See United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 321, 92 S.Ct. 455, 463, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971) (speedy trial right attaches at arrest). It also applies to the post-appeal period, i. e., the time between issuance of the appellate court's mandate reversing a conviction and commencement of a new trial (or decision on a post-appeal speedy trial motion), here 3½ months (February 13-June 1, 1978). [7] Under the circumstances of this case, we conclude that these two periods, standing alone or together, have not deprived Alston of his constitutional right to a speedy trial. [8] The question, therefore, is how to treat Alston's speedy trial claim based on appellate delay, i. e., on the period between the filing of the notice of appeal on May 8, 1975 (approximately one week after sentencing) and issuance of this court's mandate on February 13, 1978. Appellee, amicus, and the trial court have characterized appellate delay as a Sixth Amendment issue. Implicitly, their theory is that all delay before ultimate resolution of a criminal chargeincluding delay incident to reversing an improperly obtained convictionimplicates the right to a speedy trial. Put another way, there has been no trial, within the meaning of the Sixth Amendment, unless and until a defendant has received a fair trial. The courts which have considered appellate delay almost uniformly have rejected this proposition. [9] Some have done so based on Supreme Court authority that there is no constitutional right to a criminal appeal, see note 7 supra, from which it follows that [t]he word `trial' in the Sixth Amendment... does not include an appeal, but rather refers to a determination by the jury of guilt or innocence. Doescher v. Estelle, 454 F.Supp. 943, 949 (N.D.Tex.1978) (citing Colunga v. State, 527 S.W.2d 285 (Tex.Cr. App.1975); Zanders v. State, 515 S.W.2d 907 (Tex.Cr.App.1974), cert. denied, 421 U.S. 951, 95 S.Ct. 1685, 44 L.Ed.2d 106 (1975)). Other courts have reasoned, more directly, that the only purpose of the constitutional right to a speedy trial is to assure that an accused gets to trial promptly rather than wait interminably for a resolution of the charges. No additional right to a speedy trial is implied. See Roberson v. Connecticut, 501 F.2d 305, 310-11 (2d Cir. 1974) (Mansfield, J., concurring); United States v. Cifarelli, 401 F.2d 512, 514 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 987, 89 S.Ct. 465, 21 L.Ed.2d 448 (1968); Petition of Williams, 393 N.E.2d 353, 354 (Mass.1979); State ex rel. Mastrian v. Tahash, 277 Minn. 309, 312, 152 N.W.2d 786, 789 (1967); State v. Lagerquist, 254 S.C. 501, 505, 176 S.E.2d 141, 142 (1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 937, 91 S.Ct. 912, 28 L.Ed.2d 216 (1971). Still other courts, including the Supreme Court, without analyzing whether the Sixth Amendment applies, have held on the facts of a particular case that the delay attributable to a successful appeal had not deprived the defendant of the right to a speedy trial. Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. 219, 221-22 n. 4, 88 S.Ct. 2008, 2009-10 n. 4, 20 L.Ed.2d 1047 (1968), rev'g on other grounds, 128 U.S.App.D.C. 245, 387 F.2d 203 (1967); United States v. Robles, 563 F.2d 1308, 1309 (9th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 925, 98 S.Ct. 1491, 55 L.Ed.2d 519 (1978). We agree that the Sixth Amendment does not apply to post-conviction appellate delay. [10] That amendment was adopted to assure that one accused of a crime is brought to trial promptly. See Barker, supra, 407 U.S. at 537, 92 S.Ct. at 2195 (White, J., concurring); Marion, supra, 404 U.S. at 315, 92 S.Ct. at 460. It does not guarantee, in addition, that the speedy trial clock continues to run during the pendency of one or more appeals until the trial assuredly has been fair. This is not to say, however, that appellate delay is immune from constitutional scrutiny. To the contrary, if such delay would prevent a fair trial after reversal of a conviction, the Fifth Amendment right to due process is implicated. [11] Thus, the question becomes whether the Fifth and Sixth Amendments call for the same  or different  analyses when appellate delay is the issue. At least one court found little, if any, conceptual difference between the two approaches. In Doescher, supra, the court adopted due process criteria for judging appellate delay virtually identical to those announced by the Supreme Court in Barker, supra, for speedy trial analysis and, similarly, called for the courts to balance all of these factors. Doescher, supra at 947. [12] We do not agree that the two inquiries are virtually the same. During the pretrial period, four speedy trial factors are applied in a balancing test, with none inherently preeminent. See Barker, supra 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192; note 12 supra. In contrast, from a due process perspective, the one, indispensable concern during an appeal period is prejudice, since the focus shifts from a speedy to a fair trial. In reaching this conclusion we note, by way of background, that the Supreme Court developed the distinction between a speedy and a fair trial when considering the constitutional implications of delay prior to arrest. In Marion, supra, the Court held that prearrest delay is outside the scope of the Sixth Amendment. See United States v. Lovasco, 431 U.S. 783, 97 S.Ct. 2044, 52 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977); Nickens v. United States, 116 U.S.App.D.C. 338, 323 F.2d 808 (1963). Noting that the history of the speedy trial provision is sparse and unilluminating, Marion, supra, 404 U.S. at 314 n. 5, 92 S.Ct. at 460 n. 5, the Court concluded that the Sixth Amendment should be construed to mean what it appears to say, id. at 314, 92 S.Ct. at 460, namely that those accused of crimes should have their trial without undue delay. Id. at 315 n. 6, 92 S.Ct. at 460, n. 6 (emphasis added). This literal interpretation is reinforced, the Court said, by the fact that an arrest triggers a new dimension of prejudice. It may disrupt [a citizen's] employment, drain his financial resources, curtail his associations, subject him to public obloquy, and create anxiety in him, his family and his friends. Id. at 320, 92 S.Ct. at 463. It is for all these reasons, in addition to protecting against prejudice to an eventual defense of the criminal charge, that the right to a speedy trial is guaranteed. [13] Id. at 320-22, 92 S.Ct. at 463-64. Thus, [t]he major evils protected against by the speedy trial guarantee exist quite apart from actual or possible prejudice to an accused's defense. Id. at 320, 92 S.Ct. at 463 (emphasis added). In contrast, according to Marion, supra, when the government appears to have evidence suggesting probable cause but delays making an arrest, a citizen suffers no restraints on his liberty and is not the subject of public accusation: his situation does not compare with that of a defendant who has been arrested and held to answer. Id. at 321, 92 S.Ct. at 464. The principal, more narrow concern in evaluating prearrest delay is prejudice to the defense against an eventual charge, since any delay from the date of the offense can impair memories or even result in the loss of witnesses or other evidence. [14] Id. at 321, 92 S.Ct. at 464. In the event that statutes of limitations do not protect against such prejudice, Fifth Amendment due process is available, Lovasco, supra, 431 U.S. at 789, 97 S.Ct. at 2048; Marion, supra, 404 U.S. at 324, 92 S.Ct. at 465; Ross v. United States, 121 U.S.App. D.C. 233, 234, 238-39, 349 F.2d 210, 211, 215-16 (1965); but this possibility of prejudice at trial is not itself sufficient reason to wrench the Sixth Amendment from its proper context to supply an additional remedy. Marion, supra, 404 U.S. at 321-22, 92 S.Ct. at 464. We believe that a similar analysis is well fitted to the appeal period. Although it is true that a criminal conviction, like an arrest, can be said to increase the drain on financial resources, extend curtailment of associations, reinforce public obloquy, and perpetuate anxiety, cf. Marion, supra at 320, 92 S.Ct. at 463 (pretrial delay), the conviction also can be said, in fairness, to rebut the presumption of innocence which underlies the right to bail, see Stack v. Boyle, 342 U.S. 1, 4, 72 S.Ct. 1, 3, 96 L.Ed. 3 (1951), [15] and, implicitly, underlies the right to a speedy trial. Thus, in a fundamental senseabsent pretrial delaythe conviction and sentencing have satisfied the interests of the defendant, as well as the public, [16] in a speedy trial, and the burden of persuasion on appeal has shifted from the state to the defendant. The variety of concerns of a defendant who has been accused but never brought to trial has been dispelled in the case of a defendant who has had the opportunity to stand trial. Thus, judicial consideration of the appeal period does not require the kind of emphasis on delay as such that the Sixth Amendment imposes on the period between arrest and trial. It follows that, once again, there is one, predominant concern when a defendant faces appellate delay: prejudice to the ability to defend against the charge in the event of a second trial. In summary, if we were to graph the overall analysis of the period from the time of the offense to the reversal of the conviction, we would draw a bell-shaped curve, as follows: Any inordinate delay between the offense and arrest (or other accusation) suggests possible prejudice to the defense  solely a due process concern at the beginning of the curve. Once the defendant has been formally accused, however, there are additional concerns  financial impact, public obloquy, attendant anxiety  requiring the addition of speedy trial protections that emphasize the length of delay, as such, as well as demonstrable prejudice. After conviction, these pretrial concerns, while still present, must be said to ebb as a constitutional matter, since the conviction is presumptively valid. Because the burden to show error now rests on the defendant, due process alone remains to protect the defendant at the end of the curve, in the event that the time taken to reverse on appeal has jeopardized the fairness of a retrial. [17] We turn, therefore, to the due process inquiry, both generally and as applied to this case.