Court Opinion

ID: 9547254
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:44:16.815186+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:32.042241
License: Public Domain

HOLOHAN, Justice
(dissenting).
The decision by the Court in this case to release four admitted killers ■ on society presents matters of grave concern. This is particularly so when the reason for such *342action is not because any constitutional right of the defendants has been violated but because there has been a violation of the Court’s rules.
The confusion in this matter is further compounded by the fact that the Court initially ordered that the trial court not dismiss the action but proceed to trial. The trial court undertook to comply with this Court’s order, and the defendants entered into plea agreements, by which they pled guilty to lesser degrees of homicide and have been sentenced to confinement. These convictions are set aside; the information dismissed; the trial court instructed to determine whether the dismissal is with or without leave to refile.
At the outset it must be emphasized that this case does not involve any violation of the constitutional right of the defendants to speedy trial. I am in agreement with the majority’s distinction between the so-called “speedy trial” requirements of the Rules of Criminal Procedure (1973) and the constitutional requirements of speedy trial. Clearly, there is no deprivation of the defendants’ right to speedy trial in the constitutional sense. The real issue involved in the case is an interpretation of the Court’s rules.
I am in total disagreement with the Court’s interpretation of Rule 8.6(b). Apparently the majority takes the view that the rule requires that a case must be dismissed for a violation of the time limits within which cases must be tried. I find nothing in the rule which requires such a conclusion. As I read subsection (b) the court is given discretion whether or not to dismiss the prosecution.
Interestingly enough I am in disagreement with the Court as to the meaning and effect of a dismissal under subsection (b). The majority takes the view that the court may dismiss the prosecution for a violation of speedy trial requirements, but there is discretion whether leave is granted to refile or not. Apparently the rationale is that the discretion indicated by the permissive “may” applies to the determination of whether to allow refiling of the charge after dismissal. If subsection (b) were the only consideration there might be some justification for the Court’s ruling especially in view of the somewhat equivocal comments in the rules. However, the Court gives quick gloss to Rule 16.7 (d):
“Dismissal of a prosecution shall be with prejudice to commencement of another prosecution arising out of the same events or transactions, unless, when the dismissal is based on a ground other than a violation of Rule 8, the court in its order finds that the interests of justice require that the dismissal be without prejudice.”
From a reading of the foregoing rule it appears that a dismissal shall be with prejudice unless the interests of justice require that the dismissal be without prejudice, but such considerations do not apply to a violation of Rule 8 which is the speedy trial provisions of the rules. A violation of Rule 8 is treated differently than other grounds for dismissal. In my view it was intended that dismissals for violation of Rule 8 time limit could only be with prejudice.
The foregoing position is supported by the history of Rule 8.6. The recommendations of the drafting committee on the criminal rules was that the rule provide:
“a. DEFENDANT IN CUSTODY. IF A DEFENDANT IN CUSTODY IS NOT BROUGHT TO TRIAL WITHIN THE TIME LIMITS PRESCRIBED BY RULE 8.2(b), HE SHALL BE RELEASED ON HIS OWN RECOGNIZANCE WITHOUT DELAY, AND THE TIME LIMIT PRESCRIBED BY RULE 8.2(c) SHALL APPLY.
“b. OTHER VIOLATIONS. IF THE COURT DETERMINES AFTER CONSIDERING THE EXCLUSIONS OF RULE 8.4, THAT A TIME LIMIT ESTABLISHED BY RULES 8.2(a), 8.2(c), 8.2(d), 8.3(a), 8.3(b)(2), OR 8.3(b)(3) HAS BEEN VIOLATED, IT *343SHALL ON MOTION OF THE DEFENDANT, OR MAY ON ITS OWN INITIATIVE, DISMISS THE PROSECUTION WITH PREJUDICE.”
The language used by the drafting committee leaves no doubt that a dismissal with prejudice was to be entered for violations of the time limits established by Rule 8. Fortunately for the judicial system and society the Court declined to accept the committee’s version. As will be noted the Court amended subsection (b) to make the. dismissal of a prosecution permissive by using the term “may.” As I would read the rule, whether the court below dismisses the case or not is a matter within the trial court’s sound discretion. The permissive “may” leaves the trial court discretion to determine whether the case should be dismissed even if the time limits have been violated. However, it appears to me that if the court does in fact dismiss the prosecution it must be with prejudice because of the provisions of Rule 16.7(d).
The comments under Rule 8.6 offer no assistance as to the intended meaning of the rule. The comments are as confusing as the rule.
In the final analysis the provisions of Rule 8.6(b) present a problem of construction of what this Court meant for the rule to say. What is the purpose and intent of the rule — the policy? In my view the rule was designed to provide the trial court with a sanction for gross violation of speedy trial limits.
The concept of dismissal of criminal prosecutions for violations of the speedy trial time limits is questionable at best. The ones responsible for time delays are not punished by dismissal of the case. The public is made to suffer by turning some admitted criminals back into society. It is the height of folly to contend that by dismissing a criminal prosecution that this is somehow a punishment on those responsible for causing the dismissal. Serious scholars have questioned the real efficacy of even the exclusionary rule as a device to deter illegal searches. See American Bar Standards, The Urban Police Function, pages 156-158.
The sanction to be imposed in this case is not applicable to the prosecutor, but three justices have conjured up the proposition that the prosecutor should have moved for a continuance. This novel position requires a prosecutor to move for a continuance he doesn’t want to protect the record from judge caused delays. I agree with the Chief Justice that judges should make their own record for judge caused delays. Upon whom should the onus of the sanction fall? Certainly not the last trial judge who found the case in its present posture. Should it fall on the several judges who were involved in various stages of the case as it ran its tortuous path through the criminal divisions of the Superior Court? Perhaps. Should the responsibility be carried by this Court for prescribing a set of time limits which in the test of time are proving themselves totally unreasonable and unworkable ?
It is a matter of common knowledge that the two most populous counties in the state are suffering a total breakdown in the disposition of litigation. In a short period of time all the judges of these two counties may be trying nothing but criminal cases. It is fallacious to argue that the only reason for delay is that public officials have failed to devote sufficient resources to the prosecution and disposition of criminal cases. It is this Court initially which has arbitrarily set time limits which in its view represent speedy justice, and at the same time increased the pretrial procedure before a case can ever be tried. There is no magic formula nor agreed fact which dictates the time limits which constitute speedy justice. The Court in the adoption of the criminal rules, with very little empirical data, decided upon the recommendations of a select committee for the time limits provided in Rule 8.2. Experience has shown that such time limits are a disaster to the justice system.
With such a background this Court now directs that this case must be dismissed. *344The previous decision of the court is set aside, and the trial judge is left to decide whether the dismissal will be with or without prejudice. If the dismissal is without prejudice the public, the court system, and even the defendants must expend the time, energy and money to start the case anew for another trip through the wonderland of the criminal divisions of Maricopa County; if the dismissal is with prejudice four admitted killers will be released into society without punishment. Neither of these alternatives is acceptable or endurable. The construction placed on the criminal rules by the majority leads inescapably to an absurd result.
There are no great constitutional principles involved in the ruling today. The underlying principle involved in this case is that the Court’s arbitrary time limits will be upheld no matter what the consequences may'be. No doubt the principle can be clothed in terms of “speedy justice” and “proper judicial administration” or other appropriate slogans. Brushing aside the birdlime of judicial rhetoric the decision and underlying rationale of the Court in this case is a subversion of the cause of justice which can only weaken public confidence in the judicial system' of this state.