Opinion ID: 883963
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Did the District Court err in granting the State's motion to dismiss Tweedy's appeal?

Text: The State argued in the District Court that Tweedy's appeal from the Justice Court conviction and judgment should be dismissed based on his failure to pursue it in a timely manner. The State did not file a brief in support of its motion and did not provide the District Court with authority for its position at the hearing on both parties' motions. The District Court's order granting the State's motion to dismiss Tweedy's appeal notes only that Tweedy made no effort to pursue his appeal from the April 1990, point at which he substituted himself as counsel of record until the State filed its motion to dismiss the appeal in January of 1995. The order provides no further rationale and contains no citation to authority. The court stated at the hearing that, as the party bringing the appeal, Tweedy was obligated to ensure that the appeal was heard in a timely fashion and that the State did not have the burden to pursue the appeal. The District Court order granting the State's motion to dismiss the appeal did not directly address Tweedy's motion to dismiss the underlying charge for lack of speedy trial on appeal. Section 25-33-304, MCA, authorizes the dismissal of a civil appeal from a justice court to a district court for failure to prosecute or unnecessary delay. No statutory authority for such a dismissal of a criminal appeal exists, however, and this Court has not specifically addressed the issue of whether the defendant or the prosecution has the responsibility to timely pursue the prosecution of a criminal appeal from a justice court to a district court. The State contends that such responsibility lies with the party bringing the appeal. The right of a criminal defendant to a speedy trial is guaranteed by both the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 24, of the Montana Constitution. State v. Matthews (1995), 271 Mont. 24, 27, 894 P.2d 285, 287. As a general rule, it is the State's duty to ensure that a criminal case is diligently prosecuted; the defendant has no duty to bring himself to trial. State v. Tiedemann (1978), 178 Mont. 394, 400, 584 P.2d 1284, 1288. It is clear that a criminal defendant has the initial burden, pursuant to § 46-17-311, MCA, to perfect his or her appeal from a justice court in order to vest jurisdiction in the district court. Once that appeal is perfected, the criminal defendant is entitled to a trial de novo in the district court pursuant to § 46-17-311(1), MCA. Thus, when the appeal reaches the district court, it proceeds as if it were a new trial. State v. Sunford (1990), 244 Mont. 411, 416, 796 P.2d 1084, 1087. Moreover, we have held that, once either party appeals a criminal action from a justice court to a district court, speedy trial issues are analyzed under the four-part test established in Barker v. Wingo (1972), 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101. State v. Bullock (1995), 272 Mont. 361, 368-69, 901 P.2d 61, 66; Sunford, 796 P.2d at 1087. While our cases have not specifically addressed the precise issue presently before us, they clearly mandate our conclusion that the burden is on the State to diligently prosecute a criminal case which is in the district court as the result of an appeal from a justice court, without regard to which party brought the appeal. To conclude otherwise would require us to ignore the de novo nature of such a proceeding under both § 46-17-311, MCA, and Sunford and to place the burden of prosecuting a criminal case on the defendant in contravention of Tiedemann. Indeed, to conclude otherwise would penalize a criminal defendant exercising the statutory right to appeal to the district court by effectively nullifying the constitutional guarantee of a speedy trial. In addition, the situation at issue here is not dissimilar from that which occasionally results from an appeal to this Court. When a criminal defendant appeals to this Court and is granted a new trial, the State is required on remand to proceed with the new trial in a diligent and speedy manner. See, e.g., State v. Stewart (1994), 266 Mont. 525, 881 P.2d 629. A defendant exercising the statutory right to appeal from a justice court to the district court is entitled to the same treatment. The State retains the obligation to ensure that the trial de novo in the district court progresses in a manner which does not violate the defendant's right to a speedy trial and, under Bullock, any speedy trial issues which arise after the appeal has been perfected are analyzed under the four-part Barker test. See Bullock, 901 P.2d at 66. The State cites to City of Seattle v. Crockett (1976), 87 Wash.2d 253, 551 P.2d 740, in support of its assertion that when a defendant appeals a justice court conviction, the burden to pursue that appeal rests with the defendant. In Crockett, the Washington Supreme Court recognized that a defendant retains a constitutionally protected right to a speedy trial in a trial de novo, but held that when the defendant is the party bringing the appeal in district court, he or she bears the burden of diligently prosecuting the appeal to protect that right to a speedy trial. Crockett, 551 P.2d at 743. We decline to adopt the State's position, based on Crockett, that a criminal defendant must pursue his or her own prosecution in a trial de novo before a district court. In our view, a defendant who retains the constitutional right to a speedy trial after appealing a justice court conviction to the district court must also retain the corresponding right to require the prosecution to ensure that a speedy trial occurs. We observe, in this regard, that other jurisdictions have held that a defendant is not under any obligation to act affirmatively to protect the right to a speedy trial in a trial de novo. See, e.g., City of Elkhart v. Bollacker (1988), 243 Kan. 543, 757 P.2d 311, 314; and Hicks v. People (1961), 148 Colo. 26, 364 P.2d 877, 879-80. The State also relies on State v. Langdon (App.1990), 117 Idaho 115, 785 P.2d 679, in support of its argument, but Langdon is inapplicable to the issue before us. There, the defendant's appeal from a magistrate court to the district court was dismissed because he failed to file a brief in support of his appeal within the allotted time; the Idaho Court of Appeals determined that dismissal could be an appropriate discretionary sanction under the applicable procedural rule for failure to file a timely brief. Langdon, 785 P.2d at 680-81. In the present case, Tweedy owed no brief or other act pursuant to rule or statute. We conclude that, once a defendant has perfected an appeal from the justice court to the district court, the State has the obligation to ensure that the prosecution of the case proceeds in a diligent manner. We hold, therefore, that the District Court erred in granting the State's motion to dismiss Tweedy's appeal on the basis that Tweedy failed to pursue it.