307 Ga. 510 FINAL COPY
S19A1280. CASH v. THE STATE.
PETERSON, Justice.
Dundell Cash appeals his 2017 malice murder conviction for
the 2006 fatal shooting of Euan Dougal outside a Columbus
nightclub.1 His sole argument on appeal is that the trial court erred
by denying his motion for new trial based on an alleged violation of
1 The shooting took place on November 10, 2006. On April 21, 2009, a
Muscogee County grand jury returned a no-bill on an indictment charging Cash with malice murder and other crimes arising from the shooting. On March 10, 2015, a second Muscogee County grand jury returned a true bill of indictment charging Cash with malice murder, felony murder predicated on aggravated assault, aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. By order entered on April 7, 2016, the trial court dismissed all but the malice murder and felony murder charges as time-barred. In a separate order issued that same day, the trial court denied Cash’s motion to dismiss the murder charges on constitutional speedy trial grounds; this Court denied Cash’s application for an interlocutory appeal of that order on June 8, 2016. At a January 2017 trial, a jury found Cash guilty of malice murder and felony murder. After a sentencing hearing held on February 15, 2017, the trial court sentenced Cash to life in prison for malice murder; the felony murder count was vacated by operation of law. Cash filed a motion for new trial on March 1, 2017; the motion was amended by appellate counsel on July 2, 2018. The trial court denied the motion in an order dated April 16, 2019. A notice of appeal was timely filed, and the case was docketed to the August 2019 term and orally argued on November 5, 2019. his constitutional right to a speedy trial. Finding no abuse of the
trial court’s considerable discretion in rejecting Cash’s speedy trial
claim, we affirm.
Dougal was shot and killed during an encounter outside a
Muscogee County strip club in the early morning hours of November
10, 2006. Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts, the
evidence presented at trial showed that Dougal was shot at closing
time while waiting on his girlfriend, a club dancer named Samantha
Taylor. Taylor had gone outside to speak to Dougal, but the doorman
had directed her to go back inside per club protocol. As she reached
the door to go back into the club, Taylor heard gunshots. Just before
the shooting, the club’s doorman had warned Cash, who also was
standing outside, about talking to the club’s female employees as
they were leaving; Cash complained about wanting more in return
for the money he had spent at the club that night.
Later that day, police obtained a warrant for Cash’s arrest
charging him with Dougal’s murder. Cash was arrested in South
Carolina on November 2, 2008. On April 21, 2009, a Muscogee
2 County grand jury returned a no-bill on an indictment charging
Cash with malice murder and other crimes. Cash was released from
jail shortly thereafter. Cash’s trial attorney later testified that an
assistant district attorney informed the defense at the time that the
no-bill was returned because the only eyewitness to the shooting,
Dennis Archer, had died. The ADA testified that he did not
remember whether he had contacted defense counsel to inform him
about the no-bill; he also testified that he did not lie to or mislead
the defense and “shared with the defense, if anything at all, that we
had no idea where [Archer] was[.]”
On March 10, 2015, a grand jury returned a true bill of
indictment against Cash, charging him with malice murder, felony
murder, and other crimes arising from the shooting. On October 1,
2015, Cash filed a motion to dismiss the indictment based on a
violation of his constitutional right to a speedy trial. Cash argued
that the delay in bringing his case to trial had prejudiced him, in
part due to the loss of several witnesses, including Calvin Jones, who
died in 2010. Cash submitted his own affidavit stating that Jones
3 had picked him up at the club shortly after closing on the night of
the murder and that Jones saw that he was wearing a black jacket.
After a hearing, the motion was denied by a written order entered
on April 7, 2016. This Court denied Appellant’s application for
interlocutory appeal.
At the January 2017 trial of the case, the jury heard from
several witnesses who identified Cash as the man they saw standing
outside the strip club with Dougal just before the shooting. At least
one of those witnesses said Cash was wearing a gray “hoodie”;
another witness who saw Cash that night told police that Cash was
wearing a dark blue or black jacket and testified that Cash wore a
jacket with a hood. Another witness picked Cash out of a photo
lineup as a man she saw walking briskly away from the club after
the shooting; that witness said the man she saw was wearing a “big
black jacket.” A group of Army Rangers who had been visiting the
club saw a black man running away from the club after the shooting;
one of them who testified at trial said that the man he saw running
was wearing a gray “hoodie,” while a brother of one of the Rangers
4 testified that a man who “caught [his] eye” at a gas station
immediately after the shooting wore a “grayish hoodie.”
The jury also heard live testimony from Archer, who, as it
turned out, was still very much alive. Archer testified that he was
outside near an entrance to the club at the time of the shooting and
saw two people having a conversation but did not see any faces. He
denied signing his initials on a photo lineup shown to him on the
night of the shooting, when, according to a law enforcement witness,
he picked out Cash as the shooter.
Ben Freiberg and Steven Bell, two Army Rangers who were at
the club on the night of the shooting, could not be located for trial,
so their statements to police were read into the record by a retired
Columbus police detective. Neither could identify the shooter; Bell
said the shooter wore a jacket, while Freiberg said that, at the gas
station, they encountered a man wearing a gray “hoodie” with a
handgun hanging out of his pants.
Convicted of malice murder, Cash received a sentence of life in
prison. Cash argued in moving for a new trial that he had been
5 denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial. The trial court in its
order calculated the relevant period of delay as at most 28 months
— the six months between Cash’s November 2008 arrest and
subsequent release from jail in April 2009 after the grand jury
returned a no-bill, plus the 22 months from the date of the March
2015 indictment to the trial that began on January 24, 2017.
Otherwise, the trial court’s analysis of the appropriate factors was
similar to that in its order denying the motion to dismiss: the trial
court found that the length of the delay weighed against the State,
but not “too heavily”; that the reason for the delay factor weighed
“relatively benignly” against the State; that Cash’s failure to
exercise his speedy trial right sooner weighed against him; and that
the prejudice factor could not weigh in Cash’s favor, because he had
not shown that he had suffered actual prejudice as a result of the
delay. The trial court specifically found that Cash had not proven
that the State lied to or misled the defense about the status of
Archer.
1. Although Cash does not challenge the sufficiency of the
6 evidence, we have independently reviewed the record and conclude
that the evidence presented at trial — while not strong — was
legally sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a
reasonable doubt that he was guilty of the crime of which he was
convicted. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307, 319 (99 SCt 2781,
61 LE2d 560) (1979).
2. Cash argues that the trial court erred in failing to dismiss
the indictment for a violation of his right to a speedy trial. We find
no clear error in the trial court’s factual findings, and we find no
abuse of discretion in the court’s weighing of the factors and
ultimate decision to reject Cash’s speedy trial claim.
(a) Threshold considerations.
Courts examining an alleged denial of the constitutional right
to a speedy trial first must consider whether the interval between
the defendant’s arrest, indictment, or other formal accusation and
the trial is sufficiently long so as to be characterized as
“presumptively prejudicial.” See State v. Porter, 288 Ga. 524, 525 (2)
(a) (705 SE2d 636) (2011). If the delay is long enough to invoke the
7 presumption of prejudice, the trial court must balance four factors:
(1) whether the delay before trial was uncommonly long, (2) whether
the government or the criminal defendant is more to blame for the
delay, (3) whether, in due course, the defendant asserted his right to
a speedy trial, and (4) whether he suffered prejudice as the delay’s
result. See Barker v. Wingo, 407 U. S. 514, 530-533 (92 SCt 2182, 33
LE2d 101) (1972); see also Doggett v. United States, 505 U. S. 647,
651 (112 SCt 2686, 120 LE2d 520) (1992). “The trial court’s weighing
of each factor and its balancing of all four factors — its ultimate
judgment — are reviewed on appeal only for abuse of discretion.”
Porter, 288 Ga. at 526 (2) (a). “However, where the trial court has
clearly erred in some of its findings of fact and/or has misapplied the
law to some degree, the deference owed the trial court’s ultimate
ruling is diminished.” Id. (citation and punctuation omitted).
The trial court found that the delay in Cash’s case was at most
28 months. The trial court determined that this qualified as
presumptively prejudicial and thus proceeded to consider the four
Barker factors. Cash does not meaningfully dispute that the trial
8 court properly calculated the length of the delay for purposes of
triggering the Barker analysis at 28 months at most.2 And the State
has not challenged the trial court’s determination that the delay was
sufficiently long to warrant consideration of the Barker factors. See
Doggett, 505 U. S. at 652 n.1 (“Depending on the nature of the
charges, the lower courts have generally found postaccusation delay
‘presumptively prejudicial’ at least as it approaches one year.”
(citation omitted)); Heard v. State, 295 Ga. 559, 564-565 (2) (d) (761
SE2d 314) (2014) (“a delay approaching one year is sufficient in most
cases to raise a presumption of prejudice and to warrant a more
searching inquiry” (citation and punctuation omitted)). Cash argues
that the trial court erred in its application of each of the four factors,
2 At oral argument, defense counsel suggested the proper calculation was
29 months, but this appears to reflect only an immaterial rounding difference. To the extent that Cash’s brief can be read to challenge this calculation because it excluded the period between his release from jail upon the return of the no- bill and his indictment, he is wrong. United States v. Loud Hawk, 474 U. S. 302, 310-311 (106 SCt 648, 88 LE2d 640) (1986); United States v. MacDonald, 456 U. S. 1, 8-9 (102 SCt 1497, 71 LE2d 696) (1982); Wooten v. State, 262 Ga. 876, 878-880 (2) (426 SE2d 852) (1993). Cash was not incarcerated or under formal charges during this time, and counsel conceded at oral argument that Cash faced no restraint on his liberty in the form of bail restrictions or otherwise.
9 so we discuss each in turn.3
(b) Barker factor balancing.
(i) Length of the delay.
Although the trial court concluded that the length of the delay
weighed against the State, Cash argues that the trial court erred in
failing to weigh the length of the delay more heavily against the
State. We find no abuse of discretion in the court’s consideration of
this factor.
As noted above, Cash does not contest that the delay was
properly calculated at about 28 months. But, citing decisions from
two federal circuit courts, Cash argues that the trial court erred by
3 In a separate enumeration, Cash complains that the trial court found
without a sufficient factual basis that he eluded arrest, something the trial court mentioned only in conducting the threshold inquiry. But, regardless of whether there was a sufficient record basis for the trial court’s finding of “flight,” any such factual finding did not factor into its weighing of the Barker factors. Rather, after finding that the delay was presumptively prejudicial such that consideration of the Barker factors was appropriate — something that Cash does not dispute — the trial court noted in passing that Cash’s flight “present[ed] unusual challenges to [the case’s] prompt resolution[.]” The trial court never mentioned flight in its consideration of the Barker factors, except to the extent that, in examining the strength of the State’s case for purpose of weighing the prejudice prong, the trial court noted that Cash’s flight from the scene was evidence of consciousness of guilt. 10 not taking into account the 70 months between his release upon the
return of the no-bill and his indictment in considering how heavily
to weigh the 28-month delay against the State. See United States v.
Oliva, 909 F3d 1292, 1304-1305 (11th Cir. 2018); United States v.
Ingram, 446 F3d 1332, 1339 (11th Cir. 2006); United States v.
Watson, 599 F2d 1149, 1157 (2d Cir. 1979). These three opinions are
the sum total of the case law that Cash cites on this point. And
although our research has revealed similar case law from those
circuits, see United States v. Lamb, 214 Fed. Appx. 908, 914 (11th
Cir. 2007); United States v. Vispi, 545 F2d 328, 333 (2nd Cir. 1976),
we have found no other federal circuit or state appellate court
applying a rule that a trial court evaluating a Sixth Amendment
speedy trial claim should consider the sort of delay at issue here in
determining how heavily to weigh the length of time under which
the defendant was incarcerated or under indictment. Cf. Brown v.
Romanowski, 845 F3d 703, 715 (6th Cir. 2017) (rejecting defendant’s
reliance on Ingram as inapplicable, on basis that pre-indictment,
pre-arrest delay was only about five months). Neither the United
11 States Supreme Court nor this Court has held that. And Cash’s
counsel acknowledged at oral argument that he had found no case
holding that it is reversible error not to consider “pre-indictment”
delay, acknowledging that the trial court’s consideration of a speedy
trial claim is “flexible.” Indeed, the circuits whose decisions are cited
by Cash have considered pre-arrest, pre-indictment delay in the
context of other factors such as the complexity of the crime and
investigation. See Oliva, 909 F3d at 1304-1306; Vispi, 545 F2d at
333.4 We cannot say that the trial court erred by failing to consider
explicitly the time period between Cash’s release from jail following
4 Although in Ingram and Vispi the federal circuit courts reversed the
defendants’ convictions with instructions to dismiss the charges, they drew no conclusion that the trial court had abused its discretion in determining how heavily to weigh any particular factor. In Ingram, the Eleventh Circuit observed that the district court had failed to complete the Barker analysis by stating how heavily each factor weighed against a particular party, then proceeded to perform that analysis itself. Ingram, 446 F3d at 1336. This Court does not engage in such a practice, as it fails to respect the discretion the trial court is afforded. See Porter, 288 Ga. at 533 (2) (e) (“[I]t is imperative that in cases implicating a defendant’s constitutional right to speedy trial, the trial court enter findings of fact and conclusions of law consistent with Barker. Absent such findings, there is no exercise of discretion for this Court to review, and the trial court’s order must be vacated and the case remanded for the entry of a proper order pursuant to Barker.” (citation and punctuation omitted)). And in Vispi, the Second Circuit opinion contains no reference to the trial court’s analysis of the defendant’s speedy trial claim, merely noting that the defendant “pressed for a trial” and was tried more than a year later. 545 F2d at 330. 12 the grand jury’s return of a no-bill and the date of Cash’s indictment,
and we see no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s conclusion that
the length of the delay did not weigh “too heavily” against the State.
(ii) Reason for the delay.
The trial court concluded that the reason for the delay should
weigh “relatively benignly against the State,” finding that the
primary reason for the delay was the temporary loss of Archer and
the State had not acted deliberately in delaying the case. Cash
brings several challenges against the trial court’s analysis on this
point. These challenges do not warrant reversal.
Cash argues that the trial court erred by finding that he did
not prove that the State lied to or misled the defense about Archer’s
whereabouts. He contends that the trial court’s finding does not
make sense given that it credited the prosecutor’s statement that he
did not lie to or mislead defense counsel despite the prosecutor’s
testimony that he could not remember whether he had contacted
defense counsel to inform him about the no-bill. To the extent that
the trial court implicitly credited the prosecutor’s account, we cannot
13 conclude that this finding of fact was clearly erroneous, particularly
given that the trial court had the opportunity to hear live testimony
from both the prosecutor and Cash’s trial counsel at the motion for
new trial hearing. See Sweatman v. State, 287 Ga. 872, 874-875 (4)
(700 SE2d 579) (2010) (trial court’s findings of fact on a speedy trial
claim are given particular deference “where the findings were based
on live testimony and the trial court had the opportunity to assess
the credibility of the witnesses”).
Cash also argues that the State’s search for Archer was grossly
negligent, and thus the trial court erred in finding that it was
diligent. We do not find clear error in this finding. The State
submitted documentation that, prior to the no-bill, it had attempted
(unsuccessfully) to confirm Archer’s death through a coroner’s office
and health department and attempted to reach him by mail. The
trial court heard testimony from the prosecutor that, after the
return of the no-bill, his investigator would “run up [Archer’s]
history” on an annual basis. The State also introduced documents
evidencing a 2014 attempt to find good contact information for
14 Archer. Given this evidence, we defer to the trial court’s
determination, particularly given that most, if not all, of the
investigative delay about which Appellant complains came during
the period in which he faced no charges and was subject to no
deprivations of liberty. See Heard, 295 Ga. at 565 (2) (d) (deferring
to trial court’s determination that State’s efforts to identify, locate,
and interview missing witness were sufficiently diligent, even
though those efforts consisted of juvenile court investigator
searching for witness “in his spare time”).
Cash also argues that the trial court should not have blamed
him for any of the delay following his indictment, complaining that
the trial court improperly cited his counsel’s requests for leaves of
absences and consent to continuances. But the trial court referenced
the defense’s consent to continuances only in noting that a certain
“portion” of the delay could be equally assigned to both the defense
and the State, which also had agreed to the continuances. And
defense requests for leaves of absences may be considered in
determining the reason for the delay. See Smith v. State, 275 Ga.
15 261, 262-263 (564 SE2d 441) (2002). Although Cash points out that
some of the requested leave-of-absence time referenced by the trial
court coincided with the time period during which the case was with
this Court on Cash’s application for interlocutory appeal, he does not
contend that all requested leave periods occurred during that time.
We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s conclusion that the
reason for the delay weighed relatively benignly against the State.
(iii) Assertion of the right.
Cash argues that the trial court erred by weighing against him
the time that he took to assert his speedy trial right. We disagree.
“The accused is not required to demand a speedy trial at the
first available opportunity”; the relevant question under this third
factor is “whether the accused has asserted the right to a speedy
trial ‘in due course.’” Ruffin v. State, 284 Ga. 52, 62-63 (2) (b) (iii)
(663 SE2d 189) (2008) (quoting Doggett, 505 U. S. at 651). “This
requires a close examination of the procedural history of the case
with particular attention to the timing, form, and vigor of the
accused’s demands to be tried immediately.” Id. at 63 (2) (b) (iii).
16 “Our cases hold that an extended delay in asserting the right to a
speedy trial should normally be weighed heavily against the
defendant.” Porter, 288 Ga. at 529 (2) (c) (3) (emphasis in original).
Cash argues that this factor cannot be weighed against him given
that he filed his motion to dismiss within two weeks of the “accrual”
of his speedy trial right: when the time from his November 2008
arrest and subsequent release from jail, plus the time following his
indictment, reached the one-year mark. But this is not the law.
Although we have said that a defendant has the “responsibility to
assert” his speedy trial right once it “accrues,” we have not equated
accrual of the right with the one-year, presumptively prejudicial
period of delay that satisfies the threshold inquiry; rather, “a
defendant may assert his constitutional right to a speedy trial at any
time after he is arrested” and “need not wait until indictment.” State
v. Pickett, 288 Ga. 674, 676 (2) (c) (3) (706 SE2d 561) (2011). Indeed,
the United States Supreme Court has rejected the notion that the
right must be asserted or waived by a precise point in the process.
See Barker, 407 U. S. at 522-530.
17 Here, Cash did not assert his right to a speedy trial during the
six months that he was incarcerated prior to the no-bill, even though
he had the benefit of counsel during that time. He never filed a
statutory demand. And he did not file his motion to dismiss until
nearly seven months after he was indicted, having agreed to several
continuances, according to the trial court’s order denying the motion
for new trial. We do not see an abuse of discretion in the trial court’s
conclusion that Cash’s failure to assert the right sooner weighed
against him. See State v. Alexander, 295 Ga. 154, 159 (2) (c) (758
SE2d 289) (2014) (noting that absence of counsel for an extended
time may mitigate the failure of the accused to assert his right more
promptly); Higgenbottom v. State, 290 Ga. 198, 202 (1) (C) (719 SE2d
482) (2011) (trial court’s determination that assertion-of-the-right
factor weighed heavily against defendant supported by defendant
not availing himself of statutory speedy trial right and not filing his
constitutional speedy trial motion to dismiss until more than two
years following his arrest and after he requested and was granted a
continuance).
18 (iv) Prejudice.
Finally, Cash argues that the trial court erred by not weighing
the prejudice factor in his favor. The trial court did not abuse its
discretion.
Again, a delay of one year generally marks the point at which
delay becomes presumptively prejudicial. And “once the threshold of
presumptive prejudice is satisfied, a presumption of prejudice
always exists, although it increases in weight over time.” Porter, 288
Ga. at 531 (2) (c) (4). “The weight given to the prejudice factor may
be bolstered if the defendant can demonstrate some actual
impairment to his defense in addition to prejudice that is presumed
from the passage of time.” Id. at 532 (2) (d).
Cash argues that he was not required to show actual prejudice
because the delay in his case was in excess of five years and the other
factors weighed heavily against the State. But the prejudice prong
may be weighed against the defendant even in cases of excessive
delay. See Dillard v. State, 297 Ga. 756, 761-762 (4) (778 SE2d 184)
(2015) (prejudice factor weighed against the appellant despite four-
19 year delay, where the trial court determined that appellant failed to
show the delay interfered with his ability to present evidence which
would have strengthened the defense).
At any rate, the delay in this case was properly calculated at
28 months, and the trial court acted within its discretion in not
weighing all of the other factors heavily against the State. Moreover,
the trial court did not “require” Cash to demonstrate actual
prejudice in order to win his speedy trial claim. Rather,
acknowledging the presumption of prejudice created by the length
of the delay, and finding that Cash had not demonstrated actual
prejudice, the trial court found that this factor did not weigh in
Cash’s favor. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by failing to
weigh this factor in Cash’s favor merely because his case had been
delayed for 28 months.
Cash also argues that he demonstrated actual prejudice. We
disagree.
The types of prejudice associated with an unreasonable delay before trial include oppressive pretrial incarceration, anxiety and concern of the accused, and the
20 possibility that the accused’s defense will be impaired by dimming memories and loss of exculpatory evidence. Of these forms of prejudice, the most serious is the last, because the inability of a defendant adequately to prepare his case skews the fairness of the entire system.
Porter, 288 Ga. at 529 (2) (c) (4) (citations and punctuation omitted).
Cash asserts this last form of prejudice, arguing that his defense
was compromised by the death of Calvin Jones and the absence of
Freiberg and Bell. The trial court’s finding that Cash has not
demonstrated actual prejudice in any of these respects is not clearly
erroneous.
As to Jones, the trial court both expressed skepticism as to
whether he would have testified as Cash claimed and concluded that
it was highly unlikely that, even if Jones had testified as such, his
testimony would have changed the result of the trial. These findings
are not clearly erroneous. Jones died in 2010, not during a period of
delay to which Cash’s constitutional speedy trial right applied; even
if the State had tried Cash immediately upon indictment, Jones
already would have been dead. Cash presented no evidence other
than his own self-serving affidavit that he even knew Jones, let
21 alone that Jones was at the scene on the date of the shooting. And
the alleged testimony of Jones concerning details of Cash’s clothing
would have been cumulative of the trial witnesses who said that
Cash’s jacket was dark blue or black.
The trial court also did not clearly err in concluding that Cash
had not demonstrated actual prejudice from the loss of Freiberg and
Bell. Without objection by the defense, the State presented the
witnesses’ statements to the jury by having a law enforcement
officer read them into the record. Although Cash notes that Freiberg
described the height of the man the Rangers encountered relative to
that of Freiberg and Bell, saying the man was taller than them, Cash
ignores that Freiberg also used numerical measurements to describe
the man’s height.5 Other than positing that live testimony is
inherently more valuable, he offers no basis for concluding the
5 Freiberg described the man he encountered as “a little taller than me
and Bell,” “about 6-2 tall or maybe a little taller,” and “taller than Bell, about 6-1 to 6-3 tall.” The record contains evidence that Cash is 5 feet, 10 inches. In other words, Cash did not need Freiberg or Bell to stand in front of the jury or be subject to cross-examination in order to show that Freiberg said the man he encountered was several inches taller than Cash. 22 defense was hurt by a lack of live testimony by Freiberg and Bell.
And Cash has not demonstrated that Freiberg and Bell would have
been found more readily had he been tried more promptly. The trial
court did not clearly err in finding that Cash did not demonstrate
actual prejudice from the delay of his case. See Higgenbottom, 290
Ga. at 202-203 (1) (D) (defendant failed to show prejudice from death
of medical examiner who concluded victim’s death was accidental,
given that doctor died before attachment of defendant’s
constitutional right to speedy trial and that State offered to stipulate
to admission of autopsy report). The trial court did not abuse its
discretion by failing to weigh the prejudice prong in Cash’s favor.
In sum, we see no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s
weighing of the factors or clear error in the factual findings that
supported those determinations. Cash does not otherwise challenge
the trial court’s ultimate decision to reject his speedy trial claim, and
we see no abuse of discretion in that decision. Cash has pointed to
no basis for reversal of his conviction.
Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.
23 DECIDED DECEMBER 23, 2019. Murder. Muscogee Superior Court. Before Judge McBride. Arora & Lascala, Manubir S. Arora, Devin A. Rafus, for appellant. Julia F. Slater, District Attorney, Christopher D. Williams, Benjamin E. Gephardt, Assistant District Attorneys; Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General, Patricia B. Attaway Burton, Deputy Attorney General, Paula K. Smith, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Matthew M. Youn, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.