Court Opinion

ID: 9577858
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:38:48.161662+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:21:22.731884
License: Public Domain

HOLOHAN, Chief Justice,
specially concurring and dissenting.
My concurrence with the majority opinion is limited to the disposition made in this particular case. I dissent from the position that a so-called DWI case must be tried within the 150 days provided by Rule 8, irrespective of whether there had been an intervening dismissal. I believe the majority’s position rests on a complete lack of appreciation of the magnitude of the challenge which the DWI statute has made to the justice systems of this state. Some caseload data may help to understand the current situation in the court system. At the end of December, 1985 there were 55,-829 DWI cases pending in the trial courts of this state. That was an increase of 22,896 over the 31,933 cases pending at the end of 1984. Arizona Legislative Council, Quarterly Report, February 1986. There are approximately 4,400 DWI cases filed per month in the trial courts. During 1985 there were 30,525 DWI cases terminated by conviction or dismissal. DWI cases occupy a significant amount of the judicial time available for the trial of criminal matters in the non-record courts. During 1985 the Legislature authorized some financial assistance to the municipal courts to employ additional judges to hear DWI cases, but no aid has been given to the justice courts to help them meet the heavy demands of DWI cases on their trial schedules.
The volume of cases affects not only courts, it also challenges the resources of both prosecution and defense. The present case represents the extreme and worst consequences of dealing with case volume without internal management checks. The appellant was charged with felony DWI. Prior to the date set for the preliminary hearing, the charge was dismissed. Although not specifically shown, it appears that the records of the prior DWI convic*312tions had not been obtained. Faced with the lack of evidence of the prior convictions, the prosecutor secured a dismissal without prejudice. The case languished until it was re-discovered much later, and the present prosecution was undertaken. The way the case was handled is not defensible, but the neglect of the prosecutor’s office in this case should not result in the remedy fashioned by this court.
The majority opinion refers to the stated legislative purpose for the DWI legislation (at 310, 723 P.2d at 659), but the majority fails to point out that there was no provision by the Legislature for any assistance to the justice system to carry out the purposes of the statute. It was not until 1985, when the volume of eases had become a crisis, that the Legislature finally provided additional funds to some courts to hire additional personnel to meet the crisis. There has, of course, been no provision on the state level for any financial assistance to aid prosecuting attorneys or. for public defenders to expand personnel to handle the volume of cases.
The rigid 150 day time limit will result in more DWI cases being terminated—by dismissal. Somehow I fail to see how such dispositions will aid in getting drunk drivers off the road. The prosecution in this case was neglectful of its obligations to follow through with the prosecution of the defendant, but the neglect in this case does not justify the court’s absolute “no dismissal try ’em in 150 days” rule. By ignoring the realities of the situation, the court has fashioned a remedy which will serve to benefit the guilty because we have court congestion. The rigid time limit will be especially harmful to prosecution of felony DWI cases. Obtaining the necessary records of past convictions from one of the 150 non-record courts and completing the prosecution within 150 days will be a difficult task. The delay in obtaining records of prior conviction is usually the result of slow processing by busy, understaffed non-record courts. This court should pursue administrative efforts to shorten the delay in this area. Grand directives will not solve the problem of delay nor keep drunks off the roads.