Court Opinion

ID: 9681226
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:46:18.282856+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:32.798784
License: Public Domain

John I. Purtle, Justice, dissenting. The writ should have been granted. Without a doubt, the speedy trial time had run before the petitioner was brought to trial. I agree with the majority that “unless there are excludable periods,” it is necessary to grant the petition. However, I interpret the facts of this case in a different manner than the majority. The petitioner was arrested on November 23, 1987, and moved for dismissal on November 28, 1988, for lack of speedy trial. The key issue in this case involves a motion and hearing which was held on March 28, 1988. During the hearing, a co-defendant moved that April 12 be set as a date to conclude the hearing on the motions. That was simply another way of requesting that the motions be disposed of at the commencement of the trial. The court wanted to continue the hearing because neither the state nor the court appeared to be ready for a ruling on the motions. Petitioner’s counsel was present during the hearings on these motions. She did not request a continuance, but when the court asked her about continuing the motion hearing, she said she had no problem. Nothing in the judge’s question indicated that there was a pending request for a continuance of the trial date. Several entries appear in the record, but one year after the appellant’s arrest the docket failed to show an excluded period of time. Several entries had been made in the docket following the appellant’s motion for dismissal. I think the majority places too great a burden on the petitioner and his counsel in this case. It can be said with some assurance that neither the appellant nor his attorney ever requested a continuance. Therefore, the burden was upon the state to prove a justifiable period, and the state has failed to carry its burden. The majority opinion places an affirmative duty upon the appellant to bring himself to trial. I would grant the petition for prohibition.