Opinion ID: 725072
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the right to a speedy appeal

Text: 7 The speedy trial guarantee of the Sixth Amendment applies only to proceedings in the trial court. See Burkett v. Cunningham, 826 F.2d 1208, 1219-21 (3d Cir.1987); 2 Wayne R. LaFave & Jerold H. Israel, Criminal Procedure, § 18.5(c) (1984). Our sister circuits have held, however, that a similar guarantee applies to criminal appeals via the Due Process Clause. See, e.g., Harris v. Champion, 15 F.3d 1538, 1558 (10th Cir.1994); Simmons v. Reynolds, 898 F.2d 865, 868 (2d Cir.1990); Burkett, 826 F.2d at 1221-22. In so holding, these courts have first recognized that there is no due process right to an appeal at all, but that an appeal must nonetheless comport with due process if a State has created appellate courts as 'an integral part'  of its criminal justice system. Harris, 15 F.3d at 1558 (quoting Evitts v. Lucey, 469 U.S. 387, 393, 105 S.Ct. 830, 834, 83 L.Ed.2d 821 (1985)). These courts have then adopted the speedy trial analysis set forth in Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), with slight modifications, as the framework for evaluating delay in the appellate context. See Harris, 15 F.3d at 1558-59; Simmons, 898 F.2d at 868; Burkett, 826 F.2d at 1222; see also United States v. Antoine, 906 F.2d 1379, 1382 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 963, 111 S.Ct. 398, 112 L.Ed.2d 407 (1990); United States v. Johnson, 732 F.2d 379, 381-82 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1033, 105 S.Ct. 505, 83 L.Ed.2d 396 (1984); Rheuark v. Shaw, 628 F.2d 297, 303-04 (5th Cir.1980) (adopting Barker analysis in dicta), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 931, 101 S.Ct. 1392, 67 L.Ed.2d 365 (1981). 8 In Barker, the Supreme Court identified four factors for courts to balance in determining whether a trial delay is unconstitutional: Length 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. According to the Court, none of these factors could be termed either a necessary or sufficient condition, and courts would be best served by engaging in a difficult and sensitive balancing process. Id. at 533, 92 S.Ct. at 2193. With respect to the fourth factor, prejudice, the Court further directed lower courts to consider three interests of the defendant which the speedy trial right was designed to protect[:] ... (i) to prevent oppressive pretrial incarceration; (ii) to minimize anxiety and concern of the accused; and (iii) to limit the possibility that the defense will be impaired. Id. at 532, 92 S.Ct. at 2193. Lower courts applying Barker to appellate delay have since adapted this prejudice factor to fit the circumstances of convicted parties on appeal, identifying three parallel interests: (1) prevention of oppressive incarceration pending appeal; (2) minimization of anxiety and concern of those convicted awaiting the outcome of their appeals; and (3) limitation of the possibility that a convicted person's grounds for appeal, and his or her defenses in case of reversal and retrial, might be impaired. Harris, 15 F.3d at 1559 (quoting Rheuark, 628 F.2d at 303 n. 8). 9 As a threshold matter, we must decide whether to follow these other circuits in transplanting the Barker framework from the trial delay context to the appellate delay context. We believe that we should. First, it makes sense to hold that the Due Process Clause embraces some minimum expectation of a reasonably timely appeal. As noted earlier, the Constitution does not require a state to provide a system of appeals, but if a state chooses to do so, the appeal, too, must accord with the basic requirements of due process. Evitts v. Lucey, 469 U.S. 387, 393, 105 S.Ct. 830, 834, 83 L.Ed.2d 821 (1985) ([I]f a State has created appellate courts as 'an integral part of the ... system for finally adjudicating the guilt or innocence of a defendant,' the procedures used in deciding appeals must comport with the demands of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution.) (quoting Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 18, 76 S.Ct. 585, 590, 100 L.Ed. 891 (1956)). Implicit in this conclusion is the idea that the enactment of an appellate system necessarily alter[s] the balance between the layers of adjudication in a constitutionally significant manner. Marc M. Arkin, Speedy Criminal Appeal: A Right Without a Remedy, 74 Minn.L.Rev. 437, 459 (1990). That is, the introduction of a second tier of adjudication unavoidably affects the operation and significance of the first tier. For this reason, due process places constraints on an appeal even if it does not require an appeal in the first place. The appeal forms an integral and inextricable part of the procedures for determining whether a defendant should be deprived of his life, liberty, or property. 10 When it comes to appellate delay, all courts of appeals addressing the issue have reached the same basic conclusion: [A]n appeal that is inordinately delayed is as much a 'meaningless ritual' as an appeal that is adjudicated without the benefit of effective counsel or a transcript of the trial court proceedings. Harris, 15 F.3d at 1558 (citation omitted). An appeal that needlessly takes ten years to adjudicate is undoubtedly of little use to a defendant who has been wrongly incarcerated on a ten-year sentence. In our view, the factors set forth in Barker and subsequent speedy-appeal cases provide the relevant considerations for investigating such unconstitutional delays. As a result, we adopt the modified Barker analysis for examining the delay that took place in Smith's case. 11