Court Opinion

ID: 9705908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:26:16.090544+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:17.296222
License: Public Domain

MORGAN, Justice
(dissenting).
I would dissent. A thirty-three month interval between arrest and trial is a horrendous gap, but I can’t see that the activities during the twelve months between October 31, 1972 and October 31, 1973, could possibly be more a detriment to the defendant than the activities during the remaining seventeen months until trial.
The first five months of the time frame give no problem because defense counsel was preparing for trial and had secured a date. The problem arose when almost simultaneously counsel on both sides was changed. Defense counsel asked for time to acquaint himself with the case and apparently he needed until mid-July to do so. This appears to be an inordinately long period, but this was not a minor offense, and he was defendant’s counsel. If defendant was not satisfied with his representation he could change as he later did. Further, defense counsel admitted that he had not pushed the matter because he felt it good tactics to delay and let things cool down. This is not an uncommon tactic to let the case grow whiskers, and who is to say that it did not work. When defendant was tried, the conviction was for a lesser included offense.