Court Opinion

ID: 9659681
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:52:27.226822+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:10.540577
License: Public Domain

WOLLMAN, Judge
(special concurrence).
I agree that under the balancing test announced in Barker v. Wingo, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101, defendant is entitled to have his conviction reversed. I reach this conclusion, however, only because I believe that defendant has shown that he suffered definite prejudice. SDCL 23-48-22 provides that:
"If the defendant has been convicted of two or more offenses before judgment on either, the judgment may be that the imprisonment on any one may commence at the expiration of the imprisonment upon any other of the offenses."
It is my opinion that this statute would have precluded Judge Cooper from declaring that defendant's sentence on the -Meade County offense should be consecutive to the sentence on the *653Lincoln County offense. This being the case, defendant lost the benefit of having his sentences run concurrently during that time which he was awaiting trial on the Meade County offense.
Even though the defendant did suffer some prejudice by the way of lost time, I would not hesitate to hold that the prejudice was outweighed by the state's interest in bringing the defendant to trial had the state's attorney offered a plausible explanation for the delay in returning defendant to Meade County to stand trial. To reverse the conviction of a twice convicted armed robber is a draconian vindication of the constitutional right to a speedy trial. We should require a clear showing of definite prejudice and the absence of any reasonable excuse for the delay as prerequisites for such drastic action.
Defendant has not shown any other prejudice. His claim of a deceased alibi witness, although it could perhaps have been more fully explored at the time the motion to dismiss was made during the course of the trial, received the judicial skepticism it deserved. Defendant's anxiety and concern, if any, relative to the case pending against him in Meade County would not constitute a sufficient showing of prejudice to warrant the dismissal of the charges against him in view of his prior criminal record (see State ex rel. Starnes v. Erickson, 85 S.D. 489, 493, 186 N.W.2d 502, 504, footnote 1) and in light of the fact that he was serving an eight year sentence on the Lincoln County offense.
The standard announced in Barker v. Wingo, supra, is fair, reasonable and workable. The requirement that an accused be afforded a speedy trial does not in my opinion require that our state's attorneys are bound to answer every beck and call of importunate prisoners, especially in view of the fact that with but two exceptions our state's attorneys serve on a part-time basis. I repeat my belief that it is only in cases where the state has shown no reasonable explanation for a lengthy delay and a defendant has shown specific prejudice resulting from the delay that the charges should be ordered dismissed.
I am authorized to say that Judge Hanson concurs in this special concurrence.