Opinion ID: 1324615
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appellant's Assertion of Rights

Text: With regard to the Appellant's assertion of his rights to a speedy trial, the Appellant maintains, as a separate assignment of error, that he did not waive his right to a speedy trial as a result of his counsel's failure to move for speedy trial prior to the indictment. Because this issue is properly considered as the third factor of the Foddrell paradigm for evaluation the Sixth Amendment claims, it is more properly addressed as a portion of this Sixth Amendment discussion. A defendant's assertion of his right was considered as one of the factors in Drachman, wherein the defendant did not assert his right to speedy trial for fifteen months. Although he was involved in the legal process with sufficient regularity and adroitness to obtain four continuances of his trial date between his 1983 arrest and his 1985 trial, he did not raise the speedy trial issue during that time. This Court in Drachman found that there was not a timely assertion of the right. As noted in United States v. Macino, 486 F.2d 750 (7th Cir.1973), however, the weight to be given to the absence of a demand in cases where the delay is between arrest and indictment is substantially less than in cases of post-indictment delay. 486 F.2d at 753. Importantly, we cannot ignore the fact that a person who is arrested but not charged will always nourish the hope that the government will decide not to prosecute. State v. Foat, 442 So.2d 1146, 1154 (La.App.1983). As the Macino Court noted, we are not, therefore, inclined to force a prospective criminal defendant to seek his own prosecution. 486 F.2d at 753. The United States Supreme Court has also addressed the concept that a defendant who fails to demand a speedy trial waives that right. In Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), the Court explained as follows: We reject, therefore, the rule that a defendant who fails to demand a speedy trial forever waives his right. This does not mean, however, that the defendant has no responsibility to assert his right. We think the better rule is that the defendant's assertion of or failure to assert his right to a speedy trial is one of the factors to be considered in an inquiry into the deprivation of the right. Such a formulation avoids the rigidities of the demand-waiver rule and the resulting possible unfairness in its application. It allows the trial court to exercise a judicial discretion based on the circumstances, including due consideration of any applicable formal procedural rule. It would permit, for example, a court to attach a different weight to a situation in which the defendant knowingly fails to object from a situation in which his attorney acquiesces in long delay without adequately informing his client, or from a situation in which no counsel is appointed. It would also allow a court to weigh the frequency and force of the objections as opposed to attaching significant weight to a purely pro forma objection. 407 U.S. at 528-29, 92 S.Ct. 2182. In the present case, we do not find that the Appellant completely waived his right to assert a speedy trial violation by failing to formally request a speedy trial during the period which elapsed between his arrest and his indictment. Rather, as specified by this Court in Drachman, the issue of failure to request a speedy trial should be considered as one of the factors in determining whether a Sixth Amendment violation has occurred.