Court Opinion

ID: 9527977
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:35:56.916024+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:26:20.327257
License: Public Domain

Utter, J.
(concurring) — L concur, and write separately to emphasize the majority's holding is consistent with prior case law and will not prove unduly burdensome to the prosecution.
The majority's resolution is consistent with the general purpose of the rule as explained by this court: "This. court has consistently interpreted CrR 3.3 so as to resolve ambiguities in a manner which supports the purpose of the rule in *866providing a prompt trial for the defendant once prosecution is initiated." (Citations omitted.) State v. Edwards, 94 Wn.2d 208, 216, 616 P.2d 620 (1980).
The majority's disposition of the case will not result in imposing an additional burden on the State. It only affirms a requirement with which the prosecutor has had to comply for many years. See, e.g., State v. Peterson, 90 Wn.2d 423, 428, 585 P.2d 66 (1978).
Finally, the due diligence requirement is not onerous. All the prosecutor need do to satisfy the requirement is to make a reasonable effort to secure the defendant's presence before the court. State v. Greenwood, 120 Wn.2d 585, 600-02, 845 P.2d 971 (1993). See also State v. Perry, 25 Wn. App. 621, 612 P.2d 4 (1980). The due diligence requirement does not impose on the State the burden of locating defendants who have failed to provide accurate information of their whereabouts to the prosecution. Greenwood, 120 Wn.2d at 602. Thus,
[L]aw enforcement agencies [are not required] ... to physically go out and search the countryside for defendants who have either given the wrong address to the Court or who moved from that address without leaving forwarding information.
Greenwood, 120 Wn.2d at 602 (citing with approval State v. Perry, 25 Wn. App. at 623).
The dissent's point, that the terms of CrR 3.3(g)(6) are unambiguous and their plain meaning should therefore control, has some initial appeal. The difficulty, however, is that giving effect to the literal terms of CrR 3.3(g)(6) does violence to what we have stated is the rule's general purpose, assuring the defendant a prompt trial to the extent practicable. See Greenwood, 120 Wn.2d at 593-94; Edwards, 94 Wn.2d at 216. The strength of the majority's approach is that it avoids this awkward result, and respects the principle that court rules should be construed to further the purposes for which they were enacted. Greenwood, 120 Wn.2d at 593 (citing In re McGlothlen, 99 Wn.2d 515, 522, 663 P.2d 1330 (1983)).
The dissent's method of analysis is, moreover, inconsistent with a very recent case, Greenwood, decided only 5 months ago. In Greenwood we unanimously held, in the context of *867CrR 3.3, that an intent to supersede case law will not be presumed unless the intent to supersede is "necessarily implied" from the change and the provisions of the original case are in "irreconcilable conflict" with the amendment. See Greenwood, 120 Wn.2d at 593.
The dissent construes CrR 3.3(g)(6) as an absolute exception to CrR 3.3. This leads the dissent to conclude the due diligence requirement and CrR 3.3(g)(6) are incompatible, indeed irreconcilable. More sensible, and consistent, is to treat CrR 3.3(g)(6) as a qualified exception to the rule, namely an exception qualified by the due diligence requirement. Understood as such, the rule operates as follows: The prosecutor has the burden of exercising due diligence to obtain the defendant even if he or she is in federal jail or prison or detained outside Washington. If, exercising such diligence, the defendant cannot be brought to trial within the specified period, then the time spent in federal custody or detention outside Washington will not count in the calculation of the speedy trial period.
This interpretation of CrR 3.3(g)(6) is consistent with recent case law and comports with the principle that the prosecutor should not be penalized for delays beyond its control. It also gives effect to the exception, while at the same time respecting the rule's basic rationale.