Court Opinion

ID: 9509446
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 21:46:22.615666+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:49.342554
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE TRIEWEILER
specially concurring.
I concur with the result of the majority opinion. I do not agree with the legal reasoning given for the majority opinion.
Section 46-13-401(2), MCA, requires that people charged with misdemeanors be brought to trial within six months. It does not make a distinction between pretrial delay injustice court and pretrial delay in district court. That fictional distinction was created by this Court in State v. Sunford (1990), 244 Mont. 411, 796 P.2d 1084, by sheer judicial legislation. Therefore, I decline to follow that decision.
However, I conclude that the result must necessarily be the same as that arrived at by the majority. Section 46-20-104(2), MCA, prohibits this Court from reviewing a district court’s error unless there was a timely and appropriate objection in the district court. In this case, the defendant did not raise the applicability of § 46-13-401(2), MCA, in the District Court. Therefore, he waived the right to raise that argument on appeal.
For these reasons, I specially concur with the result of the majority opinion.
JUSTICE HUNT joins in the foregoing concurring opinion.