Court Opinion

ID: 9791384
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:10:04.737549+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:35.859347
License: Public Domain

*33Finley, J.
(concurring) — Notwithstanding significant legal developments nationally, and despite the thrust of our decisions, particularly in State ex rel. Foster-Wyman Lumber Co. v. Superior Court, 148 Wash. 1, 267 P. 770 (1928), Holt v. Morris, 84 Wn.2d 841, 529 P.2d 1081 (1974), and State v. Rolax, 84 Wn.2d 836, 529 P.2d 1078 (1974), the dissent would turn the clock back perhaps 40 years in posing a restrictive, shortsighted, and, I think, rather dubious philosophy regarding the well-established rulemaking power, and the attendant responsibilities, of the Supreme Court. In this process, the dissent, it seems to me, sets up some ostensibly fearsome straw men and then cavalierly rides off in all directions — jousting with windmills — with great gusto, but with more heat than light.
Much of this is essayed, curiously enough, in disregard of the recommendations and standards of the American Bar Association Specal Committee on Minimum Standards for the Administration of Criminal Justice. That committee was composed of a substantial number of the ablest, most experienced, and most highly respected judges, lawyers, and legal scholars in the United States. That committee’s reasoning and recommendations are more persuasive and more acceptable to me than the acidulent assertions of the dissent.
Lastly, I think the dissent overlooks the philosophy and impact of certain provisions of the Washington and the United States Constitutions, which in pertinent part read as follows:
Administration of Justice. Justice in all cases shall be administered openly, and without unnecessary delay.
Const, art. 1, § 10.
Rights of the Accused. In criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right ... to have a speedy public trial by an impartial jury ...
Const, art. 1, § 22.
Constitution Mandatory. The provisions of this Consti*34tution are mandatory, unless by express words they are declared to be otherwise.
Const, art. 1, § 29.
Right to Speedy Trial, Witnesses, Etc. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, . . .
U.S. Const. amend. 6.
I have signed and concur in the majority opinion, especially for the above-indicated reasons.
Stafford and Brachtenbach, JJ., concur with Finley, J.