Opinion ID: 2570511
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The 90-Day Continuance

Text: On June 13, 2000, the State filed a motion for a continuance because material evidence, namely over 100 pieces of ballistic evidence, still needed to be tested and testing would not be completed by the trial date. White objected to the trial court granting the continuance, arguing the request was not in good faith since the State had not diligently pursued having the tests timely performed. K.S.A. 22-3401 permits district courts in criminal cases to grant continuances to both the State and defendants for good cause shown. K.S.A. 22-3402(3)(c) defines the circumstances under which a continuance can be granted without violating a defendant's statutory right to a speedy trial. (3) The time for trial may be extended beyond the limitations of subsections (1) and (2) of this section for any of the following reasons: . . . . (c) There is material evidence which is unavailable; that reasonable efforts have been made to procure such evidence; and that there are reasonable grounds to believe that such evidence can be obtained and trial commenced within the next succeeding ninety (90) days. Not more than one continuance may be granted the state on this ground, unless for good cause shown, where the original continuance was for less than ninety (90) days, and the trial is commenced within one hundred twenty (120) days from the original trial date. Over White's objection, the trial court granted the motion to continue the trial for up to 90 days and found that material evidence was unavailable and that the State acted in good faith. If there's over a hundred pieces of ballistics evidence that needs to be examined, that's all very meticulous work, it's very time consuming. Unfortunately, the people that can do that are very few and far between, and it appears to me that there has not been any sort of delay that's caused simply for the purpose of delay, that Ms. Lidtke's request is based upon a good faith basis. White asks us to find that the trial court erred in rejecting his argument regarding the State's diligence and in not revisiting the finding when the State used a different expert at trial than the one discussed at the hearing on the motion to continue. After review of the record regarding this issue, we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the continuance and, by operation of K.S.A. 22-3402(3)(c), White's right to speedy trial was not violated as long as the delay was no more than 90 days.