Court Opinion

ID: 9698954
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:04:51.878528+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:44.847314
License: Public Domain

McAULIFFE, Judge,
concurring.
I concur in the Court’s opinion. I write separately to express the view that the same result is reached through the application of a different, and appropriate, analysis.
The discontinuance of the original Maryland prosecution by the entry of a nolle prosequi was grounded on legitimate State interests, and represented a reasonable exercise of prosecutorial discretion. That action was not taken to harass the defendant, or to avoid a speedy trial problem, or otherwise taken in bad faith. Accordingly, the time that the defendant was not facing criminal charges in this State should not be subjected to a Sixth Amendment speedy trial analysis, but rather should be evaluated in connection with the defendant’s Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. See United States v. Loud Hawk, 474 U.S. 302, 106 S.Ct. 648, 88 L.Ed.2d 640 (1986); United States v. MacDonald, 456 U.S. 1, 102 S.Ct. 1497, 71 L.Ed.2d 696 (1982); United States v. Lovasco, 431 U.S. 783, 97 S.Ct. 2044, 52 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977); United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 92 S.Ct. 455, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971).
The record supports the trial judge’s finding that the prosecutor entered a nolle prosequi in the original proceed*422ing, just 16 weeks after it was initiated, for two reasons; and, that both reasons flowed from knowledge the State acquired after it had secured the original indictment. The knowledge, acquired in May, 1986, was that the defendant had been found guilty in South Carolina, in 1985, of trafficking in cocaine, and that the South Carolina authorities were requesting the return of the defendant in order to finalize the conviction by the required imposition of sentence.
The first reason this information was important to the prosecutor is that it, together with other information then being acquired, alerted the Maryland authorities to the fact that the defendant may well have imported cocaine into this State. The prosecutor represented that he needed more time to investigate the matter, and to determine whether the more serious charge of importation should be brought against the defendant. Apparently, the prosecutor also harbored a reasonable belief at that time that he could negotiate a plea with a co-defendant, and thereby obtain that co-defendant’s testimony to “bolster” his case against the defendant — a belief which was later confirmed. The potential additional charge of importation of cocaine concededly grew out of the same transaction that had generated the earlier charges. Legitimate interests of justice, economy, and convenience, as well as legitimate concerns about the effect of double jeopardy protections to which the defendant was entitled, militated strongly in favor of a single trial of all charges.
The second reason the after-acquired information was important to the prosecutor was that it suggested the advisability of returning the defendant to South Carolina so that the previous verdict in that State, which had followed a trial in absentia, could be made a final judgment of conviction by the imposition of sentence upon the defendant.
At the time of the defendant’s trial in South Carolina in 1985, Rule 3 of the Criminal Practice Rules of that State permitted a trial in absentia. See State v. Jackson, 288 S.C. 94, 341 S.E.2d 375 (1986). Although the trial judge *423presiding at a trial in absentia in South Carolina will decide upon a sentence if there is a conviction, that sentence is sealed, and is not opened or imposed until the defendant is apprehended and brought before the court. See State v. Johnson, 213 S.C. 241, 49 S.E.2d 6 (1948). The law of South Carolina is well settled that there is no final judgment in a criminal case tried in absentia until the defendant has been brought before the court and the sentence imposed. State v. Washington, 285 S.C. 457, 330 S.E.2d 289 (1985); State v. Smith, 276 S.C. 494, 280 S.E.2d 200, 201 (S.C.1981); Lytle v. Miller, 157 S.C. 332, 154 S.E. 225 (1980); State v. Hightower, 33 S.C. 598, 11 S.E. 579, 580 (1890).
South Carolina had a legitimate interest in having the defendant returned to that State so that a judgment of conviction could be entered. Maryland had a legitimate interest in seeing to it that the judgment in South Carolina was finalized, so that if the defendant were convicted of the later drug charge in this State, he could properly be sentenced as a recidivist. This action cannot be characterized as a stratagem to give an unfair tactical advantage to the State. Rather, it represented the sound exercise of prosecutorial discretion, taken to memorialize the true state of affairs, and to prevent a defendant from escaping the possibility of just punishment for his conduct.1
Assuming that the prosecutor might have been able to send the defendant to South Carolina and thereafter secure his return, by agreement with South Carolina,2 he was not *424obligated to do so. Two entirely legitimate reasons existed for the termination of the prosecution.
By entering a nolle prosequi, the State improved the defendant’s position. The defendant did not return to South Carolina with a detainer following him, which might have affected the conditions of his incarceration there. Maryland did not lodge a detainer against the defendant in South Carolina until a year later, 13 days after the Maryland authorities had completed their investigation and secured their new charges against the defendant.
Excluding the period of one year during which the defendant was not under the disability of any charges in Maryland, it is clear that his claim of a denial of the constitutional right to a speedy trial is without merit. Assuming that the 16-week period attributable to the first prosecution is counted, there is no suggestion of delay attributable to the State during that period. Following the initiation of new charges on 28 May 1987, the bulk of the delay was directly attributable to the defendant. He fought extradition, delaying his return to Maryland until 25 November 1987. He was tried within three months of his return to this State.
The one-year period of time that elapsed between charges in Maryland has not been shown to have deprived the defendant of due process. Properly considered, the various periods of delay in this case do not mount up to a denial of any constitutional right.
RODOWSKY, J., joins in this opinion.

. Had the prosecutor not cooperated with the South Carolina authorities in having a final judgment entered on their earlier verdict, the defendant probably could have escaped treatment as a recidivist in either state. Maryland could not have based an enhanced sentence on less than a judgment of conviction, and it is unlikely that South Carolina could have increased a sentence already determined. Moreover, the defendant might also, for much the same reasons, have escaped the possibility of either jurisdiction imposing a sentence of imprisonment consecutive to that of the other state.

. Ordinarily, the transfer of a prisoner, and the right to secure his prompt return, exists by virtue of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, Maryland Code (1957, 1987 Repl.Vol., 1989 Cum.Supp.) Art. 27, *424§§ 616A-616R. That agreement applies, however, only when there is outstanding in the demanding state an "untried indictment, information, or complaint” and the prisoner in the sending state has “entered upon a term of imprisonment.” Article 27, § 616D(a).