Court Opinion

ID: 9648695
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:32:40.845122+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:04.567420
License: Public Domain

MAUS, Judge,
dissenting.
I must dissent. A change of judge as a matter of right in a criminal proceeding is governed by Rule 32.07, effective January 1, 1982. The history of that rule is reviewed in State ex rel. Jackson v. Thompson, 661 S.W.2d 677 (Mo.App.1983). After considering that history, the court reached the following conclusion concerning the procedure required by that newly-adopted rule.
“The foregoing precedents clearly indicate that motions to change the venue and to disqualify a judge must be accompanied by a reasonable notice of the time when the motions will be presented and heard by the court. The present rules, significantly in the conjunctive, require that a notice of presentment for hearing be served on the opposing party. This was not done in proper form.” Id. at 679. (Emphasis added.)
That construction of the rule to provide that an application is in proper form only when accompanied by a reasonable notice of the time when the motion will be presented has been consistently recognized. *248State v. Williams, 747 S.W.2d 635 (Mo.App.1988); State v. Bowling, 734 S.W.2d 565 (Mo.App.1987). Cf. State ex rel. Wesolich v. Goeke, 794 S.W.2d 692 (Mo.App. 1990); State ex rel. Ford Motor Co. v. Hess, 738 S.W.2d 147 (Mo.App.1987); Farnsworth v. Wee, 720 S.W.2d 409 (Mo.App.1986).
There is nothing in the rule to indicate that an objection by an opposing party is necessary to establish an application is not in proper form as required by Rule 32.07. By the same token, the absence of objection, or even the agreement of the parties, cannot make an application not in proper form or timely filed the basis of a change of judge as a matter of right. A purpose of Rule 32.07 is to require prompt presentation of such applications to facilitate the control of the docket by the trial judge. In view of that purpose, when the Rule is considered in its entirety, I believe the construction recognized in Jackson and other cases cited is sound. I would adhere to that construction. In my opinion, a trial judge may properly deny an application for change of judge as a matter of right not accompanied by a timely-filed notice of the time when the application will be presented. For this reason, I would quash the preliminary writ in prohibition.