Opinion ID: 1940768
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Denial of Constitutional Guarantee of Speedy Trial.

Text: Defendant's first contention is that his constitutional right of speedy trial under the sixth amendment to the federal constitution was violated by the more than seven-year delay which ensued between the dismissal of the 1977 information and his trial on the 1984 information. As an alternative to that claim, in the event it is rejected, he asks the court to find that his right of due process was violated from the resulting delay and the prejudice engendered thereby. Although none of defendant's arguments are expressly conditioned on the speedy trial provisions contained in article I, section 10 of the Iowa Constitution, analysis under the state constitution played a major role in the decision of the court of appeals which is the subject of our review. Consequently, we consider the speedy trial claim under both federal and state constitutions. We decline to consider issues involving a statutory guarantee of speedy trial because no such claim has been advanced by defendant at any stage of the appellate process. Accordingly, any reference to statutory speedy trial rights in our discussion is only for the purpose of comparison and illustration. The court of appeals found no merit in defendant's claim that his federal sixth amendment rights had been violated. All members of that court agreed that any claims in this regard must be evaluated in light of the principles established in United States v. MacDonald, 456 U.S. 1, 102 S.Ct. 1497, 71 L.Ed.2d 696 (1982). Under that standard, defendant's contentions were deemed to fail. Three members of the court of appeals concluded, however, that the court was required by article I, section 10 of the Iowa Constitution to employ an analysis involving the equivalent of a Barker v. Wingo [2] balancing test. The other three members of the court of appeals believed that the principles espoused in MacDonald should control the state constitutional question rather than the Barker v. Wingo principles. We agree with the court of appeals' conclusion that defendant's sixth amendment right of speedy trial must be considered in light of MacDonald. The Court held in that case that the time between the good faith dismissal of pending criminal charges by the prosecution and the filing of the same charges at a later date is not to be considered in determining whether the delay in bringing the accused to trial has violated the right of speedy trial guaranteed by the sixth amendment. MacDonald recognized, however, that the period of delay between the two criminal presentations may be the basis of constitutional challenge under the due process clause of the fifth or fourteen amendments in the same manner as other cases of preaccusatorial delay. The court of appeals considered such due process claims and found them to be without merit. We agree with that conclusion. The issue is controlled, we believe, by our opinion in the appeal of defendant's accomplice, George William [Jack] Hall, which presented the same issue on substantially similar facts. See State v. Hall, 395 N.W.2d 640, 643-44 (Iowa 1986). Defendant urges the court of appeals erred in applying the MacDonald test by concluding that the dismissal of charges in 1977 was undertaken in good faith. He observes that if that action was not in good faith MacDonald would implicitly permit a sixth amendment claim to be asserted based on a period of delay measured from the filing of the original charge. As a basis for that contention, he suggests that the State dismissed the case at that time in order to gain a tactical advantage. In considering defendant's contention, we note that in this jurisdiction the State is held to a rather rigid statutory time period for bringing its case to trial. If not complied with, this may result in a dismissal with prejudice. [3] In situations where the State does not have enough evidence to go to trial, it soon faces a dilemma in which dismissal without prejudice may, indeed, amount to a tactical advantage. Notwithstanding that consequence, we have suggested that dismissals for purposes of facilitating the state in gathering evidence, procuring witnesses, or plea bargaining should not preclude reinstatement of the same charges at a later date. See State v. Fisher, 351 N.W.2d 798, 801 (Iowa 1984); State v. Johnson, 217 N.W.2d 609, 612-13 (Iowa 1974). The language quoted from Fisher and Johnson may be unduly broad. We recently indicated that the State should not be accorded an unfettered avenue of escape from a statutory speedy trial predicament engendered by its own mishandling of a criminal case. See State v. Gansz, 403 N.W.2d 778, 780 (Iowa 1987). We do not believe, however, that such mishandling has been demonstrated in the present case. Moreover, defendant's speedy trial argument on this appeal is limited to constitutional claims. For purposes of a MacDonald analysis, we cannot find that the State acted in bad faith in dismissing the case in 1977. A full record was made at the time of the 1977 dismissal concerning the change in testimony by one or more material witnesses. It does appear that the testimony of at least one of these witnesses was critical to the State's case. While the testimony of this witness at the March 1985 trial may not have been all that the State hoped it would be, it was, nevertheless, substantially more favorable to the State's case than it was indicated to be at the 1977 dismissal hearing. Under the circumstances, we accept the State's contention that the 1977 dismissal was in good faith and the refiling of the murder charge against defendant was based on a change of circumstances favorable to the State's case. We disagree with the views of those members of the court of appeals who concluded article I, section 10 of the Iowa Constitution requires that a Barker v. Wingo analysis be applied to the on and off and on again prosecution in the present case. In rejecting a similar argument based on the federal constitution, the Court in MacDonald concluded that the sixth amendment speedy trial guarantee is aimed at minimizing the disruption of life caused by the presence of pending and unresolved criminal charges. MacDonald, 456 U.S. at 8, 102 S.Ct. at 1502, 71 L.Ed.2d at 704. The Court concluded that following the dismissal of charges any remaining consequences involving disruption of lifestyle and exposure to public obloquy, stress and anxiety is no greater on the person who had been charged than it is on any person subject to an open and continuing criminal investigation. The Court therefore determined that time intervals following such dismissals should be treated in a constitutional sense as would any preaccusatorial delay. Id. Because we conclude the same intent and purpose should be attributed to article I, section 10 of the Iowa Constitution, defendant's case presents no stronger claim to relief under the speedy trial guarantees of the state constitution than it does under the sixth amendment.