Court Opinion

ID: 9880126
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-27 19:02:25.439822+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:07.817105
License: Public Domain

ROWLAND, JUDGE, SPECIALLY CONCURRING:
¶1 I concur that under the unique facts of this case, no relief is warranted and Thompson's convictions should be affirmed. Nothing in the Court's decision today, however, should be read as diminishing a defendant's entitlement to a preliminary hearing on prior convictions used to enhance his sentence. In this case, the Supplemental Information, commonly referred to as a page two, had been on file approximately one year prior to the start of the preliminary hearing. Thompson was bound over with prior convictions even though no specific evidence of them was presented during the preliminary hearing. I agree this did not deprive the district court of jurisdiction over the Supplemental Information.
¶2 In Thomas v. State , the defendant was bound over at preliminary hearing with three prior felony convictions, after which two of the prior convictions were stricken from the page two and replaced by two more recent felony convictions. Thomas , 1984 OK CR 19, ¶ 11, 675 P.2d 1016, 1020. This Court rejected his claim that he was entitled to a second preliminary hearing on the specific prior felony convictions which would be used to enhance his potential punishment at trial, citing the fact that "the appellant was put on notice that he was to be charged as a second and subsequent offender, and subject to enhanced punishment pursuant to 21 O.S.1981, § 51(B), at his preliminary hearing by virtue of the three convictions then alleged." Thomas , 1984 OK CR 19 at ¶ 13, 675 P.2d at 1020.
¶3 In declining to quash Thompson's Supplemental Information or to remand his case for further preliminary hearing on the second page, the district court did not commit error. There is no dispute about the existence of his prior convictions. More than a year and a half passed between the time the Supplemental Information was filed and the time Thompson was bound over for trial, and thus more than ample time had passed to properly put him on notice that enhancement of his sentence was being sought. That being said, I join the Summary Opinion's urging of prosecutors to be diligent in ensuring that similar facts do not arise in the future. This can be done by filing a page two with the original Information, and with every Amended Information filed in a given case.