Court Opinion

ID: 9737860
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:36:04.969583+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:38:05.467329
License: Public Domain

HENDERSON, Justice
(on reassignment).
Yen Osdel was convicted of driving while under the influence of alcoholic beverages, 183 days after his first court appearance. We reverse the conviction.
FACTS
Ven Osdel was arrested for driving while under the influence. He made his first appearance on November 22, 1988, two days after his arrest. His preliminary hearing was set for January 12, 1989. Near the close of the court’s business day on January 12, 1989, the clerk informed the magistrate that she had a 5:30 p.m. appointment that could not be cancelled. The magistrate contacted the clerk’s office and found that there was no substitute available. The magistrate rescheduled the preliminary hearing for March 23, 1989, 70 days later.
After the preliminary hearing, court personnel scheduled the case for trial on May 24, 1989. The scheduled trial date fell 183 days after Ven Osdel’s first appearance. On May 19, 1989, and within the 180-day period, State moved to extend the 180-day rule due to the magistrate’s rescheduling of the preliminary hearing. State requested that the court extend the 180-day deadline by 69 days, which was State’s calculation of the time span between the original and rescheduled preliminary hearing date. On the same day, Yen Osdel filed a motion to dismiss for failure to prosecute within the 180 days prescribed by statute. The magistrate extended the 180-day time period by three days, not the 69 days requested by State. Ven Osdel was convicted by a magistrate court jury, 183 days after his first appearance. Ven Osdel appeals the circuit court’s affirmance of the magistrate court’s decision to allow the prosecution to extend beyond 180 days. We reverse.
DECISION
This case must be resolved by application of SDCL 23A-44-5.1 which provides:
*891The prosecution shall dispose of all criminal cases by plea of guilty or nolo conten-dere, trial or dismissal within one hundred eighty days from the date the defendant has first appeared before a judicial officer on the complaint or indictment. Any period of delay shall be excluded if the trial court finds good cause for the delay. In the event of the prosecution’s failure to dispose of the action within the time limit required by this section, the action shall be dismissed.
The statute requires a disposition of criminal matters within 180 days, lacking good cause for delay. State v. Hoffman, 409 N.W.2d 373, 375 (S.D.1987). “Except for short-term docket congestion caused by extraordinary circumstances, delay caused by docket congestion is attributable to the prosecution.” Id.
This case involves the “delay, procrastinations, and dilatory practices” which the 180-day rule was adopted to prevent. See Hoffman, at 376 (Wuest, C.J., concurring specially). The 180-day rule “was principally passed to address and respond to the unfortunate and ineffective scheduling practices of the magistrate court in Sioux Falls.” Hoffman, at 378 (Miller, J., dissenting).
State incorrectly identifies the problem as being the magistrate’s rescheduling of the preliminary hearing. State fails to note that when the preliminary hearing was rescheduled, there were still nearly 130 days to complete Ven Osdel’s prosecution. Even after the completion of the preliminary hearing on May 24, 1989, there still remained 60 days to complete the prosecution of Ven Osdel.
The scheduling error occurred after the preliminary hearing, as a result of ineffective or dilatory scheduling practices. Court personnel rescheduled the trial and apparently neither State nor the magistrate confirmed whether the trial date fell within the 180 day time proscription. The problem is vibrantly demonstrated by the State’s own motion to extend the 180-day limit, which read: “The clerk’s office noted the reset in the state’s file, it was clerically put in the state’s computer, and no attorney saw it.” Even in this age of the computer, scheduling is ultimately the responsibility of court officers and attorneys.
In their application for extension of the 180-day period, the State clearly indicated that the rescheduling was “at the court’s discretion because of general court congestion.” In Hoffman, we adopted the ruling in a California case that “court congestion does not constitute good cause for delay under a 180-day statute.” Rhinehart v. Santa Barbara-Goleta Mun. Ct., 35 Cal.3d 772, 200 Cal.Rptr. 916, 677 P.2d 1206 (1984). However, in Hoffman we softened the application of that rule by also adopting the holding in a Michigan case which excepted “short-term docket congestion caused by extraordinary circumstances.” Hoffman, 409 N.W.2d at 375 citing People v. Smith, 143 Mich.App. 122, 371 N.W.2d 496 (1985). Court congestion seems to continue in the Second Circuit and it is not a good cause to excuse the delay in this case. Neither the State’s motion nor the record discloses that the congestion was short term or caused by extraordinary circumstances. No reasons for this error exist except for the ineffective or dilatory scheduling practices which SDCL 23A-44-5.1 was intended to eliminate. Reversed.
WUEST and MORGAN, JJ., concur.
MILLER, C.J., and SABERS, JJ., dissent.