Opinion ID: 2347651
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Balancing of the Factors [2]

Text: The factors enumerated in Barker were balanced by the Supreme Court of Delaware in Johnson v. State, (Del. 1973) 305 A.2d 622, cert. dismissed, 413 U.S. 901. In that case Johnson entered a guilty plea on April 4, 1968, but was not sentenced until April 28, 1972. He sought to have the sentence vacated on the basis of a delay between 1968 and 1970 which he claimed denied him his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. After his guilty plea he had been returned to Virginia to serve out the remainder of a sentence there. The trial court notified Johnson's attorney that Johnson would not be sentenced until he served the Virginia sentence. Chief Justice Wolcott said for the court: The reasons for postponing sentencing were: (1) the sentence to be imposed in Delaware was dependent on his mental health and emotional stability at the time of imposition; (2) he would gain nothing by being sentenced before he could actually start to serve the Delaware sentence; (3) the Court would want to know how long he had actually been in prison outside of Delaware; (4) the Court would like to know what rehabilitative progress he had made while in the Virginia prison. Id. at 623. Apparently, the Virginia sentence was completed in August, 1969. The defendant was arrested in Virginia in 1970 upon a Governor's warrant at the instance of Delaware. He instituted habeas corpus proceedings in the Virginia courts. There was no indication as to how long those proceedings took. The court observed that [t]here is no definitive decision as to whether the Sixth Amendment guarantee of a speedy trial applies to the interval between conviction, or entry of a guilty plea, and sentencing, citing Brady. It went on, however, to assume arguendo, as do we here, that the guarantee applies to this interval. In evaluating the case under the standards set forth in Barker and concluding that there ha[d] been no deprivation of the defendant's assumed right to a speedy sentencing, the court gave the following reasons: When the facts of this case are considered in this light, it is clear that Johnson has not been denied any assumed Sixth Amendment right. First, the Superior Court's reasons for postponing the sentencing are valid. Second, although Johnson asserts he made some efforts to have his Delaware sentence imposed during the period 1968-1969, he abandoned these efforts in 1970. Indeed, after his release from prison in Virginia, his efforts sought to frustrate the imposition of a Delaware sentence. Third, he has failed to demonstrate in the record any appreciable prejudice resulting from the delay in his sentencing. On the other hand, the length of the delay, which we feel is longer than is normally permissible, weighs in favor of vacating the sentence. However, we do not attribute such weight to this factor so as to overcome the previous three factors.[] [] After balancing these four factors in Barker, supra, the Supreme Court upheld a conviction obtained after a five-year delay. Id. at 623-24. The Supreme Court in Barker indicated that courts are compelled to approach speedy trial cases on an ad hoc basis. We shall proceed on such a basis to apply and to balance the factors enumerated by the Court in Barker. We first note that although the delay was substantial, it was entirely inadvertent insofar as the State was concerned. The length of the delay was little different from that in Barker and less than that in Saglimbene and Brady. In all three of those cases it was found that the accused had not been denied his right to a speedy trial. Erbe took no steps to demand sentencing, no doubt hoping the court would forget the matter entirely. His trial had been concluded so we have here no dimming of the memories or disappearance of witnesses as in the conventional case where an individual claims to have been denied a speedy trial. Erbe was confined only briefly and that was after the delay was discovered. We have here the reverse of the situation in Juarez-Casares. It will be recalled that there the trial judge advised the defendant that he would have imposed a different sentence if [he] had behaved [him]self. Here Erbe was placed on probation, possibly as a result of his good behavior during the delay. In short, we see no prejudice to Erbe. Accordingly, considering and balancing all of the factors, we conclude that Erbe has not been denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial.