Court Opinion

ID: 9522762
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:32:10.591704+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:03:53.778334
License: Public Domain

Dooley, J.,
¶ 47. concurring. I agree with Justice Skoglund that defendant’s conviction should not be reversed for violation of his right to a speedy public trial under Chapter I, Article 10 of the Vermont Constitution, albeit on other grounds. I join in her opinion that the failure to bifurcate the trial was error and was not harmless error. Therefore, I join in the judgment.
¶ 48. As Justice Johnson correctly points out, (1) defendant claimed deprivation of a speedy trial under both the federal and Vermont Constitution; (2) our original decision was at least implicitly based upon both the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Chapter I, Article 10 of the Vermont Constitution; and (3) we can and should decide whether the latter violation still requires that defendant’s conviction be reversed for failure of the state to provide him a speedy public trial. Ante, ¶¶ 32-35. I also agree with Justice Johnson that under the unique facts of this case the failure of the public defender system to provide defendant counsel and the failure of assigned counsel to move the case forward caused a violation of Article 10 for which the state was responsible. In this respect, I concur in her analysis that defendant was denied a speedy trial under the Vermont Constitution. In interpreting Article 10, we should make clear that we reject the United States Supreme Court’s analysis of the Sixth Amendment that delay caused by appointed counsel is always charged to the defendant on a speedy-trial claim.
*473¶ 49. My points of agreement with Justice Johnson do not fully answer whether defendant’s conviction should be reversed because the United States Supreme Court rejected our decision on a second ground. The Court held that “the Vermont Supreme Court failed appropriately to take into account Brillon’s role during the first year of delay,” that “a defendant’s deliberate attempt to disrupt proceedings [must] be weighted heavily against the defendant,” and that “[a]bsent Brillon’s deliberate efforts to force the withdrawal of [his first and third appointed lawyers], no speedy-trial issue would have arisen.” Vermont v. Brillon, 556 U.S. _,_, 129 S. Ct. 1283, 1292 (2009). As a result, the Court found that “the three year-delay [was] caused mostly by Brillon” and “[i]n light of his own role in the initial periods of delay, . . . [the-six-month period of no representation], even if attributed to the State, does not establish a speedy-trial violation.” Id. at_nn.8-9, 129 S. Ct. at 1292 nn.8-9.
¶ 50. At one level, this case has been about the proper responsibility for bringing a criminal case to trial within a reasonable period of time; at another level, the issue is whether defendant is a master manipulator who had lawyers disqualified in order to prevent trial and create a speedy-trial claim. A complete reading of the separate opinions in the first decision from this Court shows that for the majority the case was about the first level; for the dissent it was entirely about the second level. The briefing in this Court on remand from the United States Supreme Court mirrors the original divide. The defendant argues the policy questions; the state’s attorney ignores the policy questions and argues that but for defendant’s improper manipulation he would have had a speedy trial.
¶ 51. The majority of the United States Supreme Court sided with the dissenting members of this Court and the position of the state’s attorney. Indeed, it went even further. Where Justice Burgess argued for a remand and complained that the majority was engaging in appellate fact-finding, State v. Brillon, 2008 VT 35, ¶¶ 57, 82, 183 Vt. 475, 955 A.2d 1108, the United States Supreme Court clearly engaged in appellate fact-finding, drawing conclusions from its fact-finding and engaging in analysis contrary to that of the majority of this Court. I agree with Justice Breyer in his dissent that this Court did not make “the error of constitutional law that the majority attributes to it.” Vermont v. Brillon, 556 U.S. at_, 129 S. Ct. at 1294. Rather, the United *474States Supreme Court grounds its reversal of our decision on an error of fact, of fact and law, or of factual analysis.
¶ 52. Justice Johnson has cited numerous cases from other states where the state’s highest court, on remand from the United States Supreme Court, reinstated its judgment based on its own constitutional provisions. Each case involved important issues of constitutional law defining the rights of citizens against the state, with important ramifications for future controversies. In the end, this case turns on none of that — the question is only whether this defendant disrupted his trial to delay it and create a speedy-trial violation. This is hardly a question of constitutional law on which we can make an independent judgment based on our analysis of the constitutional text.
¶ 53. As much as I disagree with it and believe it is outside the proper role of the United States Supreme Court, I conclude that we must accept the appellate fact-finding of that Court just as the lower courts in this state must accept our judgment even if we step over the line and get too far into the facts in deciding an appeal. Indeed, had I concluded that defendant arranged for the dismissal of lawyers for the purpose of creating a speedy-trial claim, rather than to achieve adequate representation, I would agree that he has waived his speedy-trial claim. For this reason, I concur in the judgment that defendant’s conviction be affirmed with respect to the speedy-trial claim under Chapter I, Article 10 of the Vermont Constitution.