Court Opinion

ID: 9523403
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:41:36.679765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:05:18.870375
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
DeBruler, J.
While it may be argued as it was in Bryant v. State (1973), 261 Ind. 172, 301 N. E. 2d 179, that the defendant acquiesces in the delay of his trial beyond' the time limited by the provisions of CR. 4(A), by his failúre upon notification, to lodge an objection to that trial date, it may not be so validly argued in this case which is governéd by CR. 4(B). Criminal Rule 4(B), reads as follows:
“If any defendant held in jail on an indictment or an affidavit shall move for an early trial, he shall be discharged if not brought to trial within fifty (50) judicial days from the date of such motion, except where a continuance within said period is had on his motion, or the delay is otherwise caused by his act, or where there was not sufficient time to try him during such fifty (50) judicial days because of the congestion of the court calendar. . Proyided, however, that in the last-mentioned circumstance, the prosecuting attorney shall file a timely motion for continuance as under subdivision (A) of this rule.”
By this rule the defendant must specifically request that he be put to trial within fifty days. Where as here, such request is specifically made, there is no basis upon which to • rest any presumption or belief that the defendant acquiesces in or agrees to a trial setting beyond the fifty-day period. As Judge Sullivan put it, for the Second District Court of Appeals, it would be redundant for the defendant to object to a trial setting beyond the fifty-day period. This is so because the motion itself constitutes a clear objection to a trial beyond the fifty days. When the defendant exercises his option to file a fifty-day motion, he notifies the trial court and the State that he perceives his speedy trial interests as being *692served by the expedited trial, and that a trial beyond the fifty days will impinge upon his speedy trial interests, and that if he is not put to trial within the next fifty days, he will move for and be entitled to his discharge.
The requirement, erected by Bryant, supra, that the defendant must object to a trial setting which takes the case beyond the six months limitation set by CR. 4(A), was a response to several factors which do not play a role in a case governed by CR. 4(B). In such cases as Bryant, it is difficult at any given time to determine exactly when the six months period will expire. Procedural moves and counter moves are constantly requiring the State and the defendant to reassess their speedy trial positions. Also, the defendant is constantly guarded during the developments of the six months preparation period with the right under CR. 4(B) to file a fifty day motion, in the event he considers the delay to impinge upon his speedy trial interests.
I therefore dissent.
Note. — Reported in 310 N. E. 2d 552.