City of Seattle v. Guay

76 P.3d 231
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 11, 2003
Docket72872-1, 72875-5
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 76 P.3d 231 (City of Seattle v. Guay) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Seattle v. Guay, 76 P.3d 231 (Wash. 2003).

Opinion

76 P.3d 231 (2003)
150 Wash.2d 288

CITY OF SEATTLE, Respondent,
v.
Andrew GUAY, Petitioner.
State of Washington, Respondent,
v.
Donald Ackerman, Petitioner.

Nos. 72872-1, 72875-5.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued February 27, 2003.
Decided September 11, 2003.

*232 Public Defender, Christine Jackson, Seattle, for petitioner Guay.

Fox, Bowman & Duarte, Jon Fox, Andrea King, Bellevue, for petitioner Ackerman.

Seattle Law Dept./Criminal Division, Mary Lynch, Seattle, for respondent City of Seattle.

Norm Maleng, King County Prosecutor, Deanna Fuller, Deputy, Seattle, for respondent State.

Elizabeth Padula, Redmond, for Other Party (Interested Counsel in Consolidated Case).

IRELAND, J.

In this consolidated case, Petitioners, Andrew Guay and Donald Ackerman, each contend that their right to a speedy trial was violated by delays in bringing them to trial. They argue that neither the City of Seattle nor King County exercised due diligence in securing Guay's or Ackerman's presence in court, respectively. Each Petitioner moved to dismiss for violation of his speedy trial right; both motions were denied by the lower courts and the superior court on RALJ appeal in their respective cases. This court granted discretionary review of the superior court's denial of their motions to dismiss.

We hold that there is no mechanism available to courts of limited jurisdiction to facilitate and compel the transport of misdemeanant defendants between county jails of this state. We distinguish between being amenable to criminal process and being amenable to transport to court. While courts of limited jurisdiction have the inherent authority to issue a transfer order to obtain a misdemeanant defendant's presence in court, this authority does not establish a mechanism that compels the holding county to release the defendant. We hold that CrRLJ 3.3(g)(5) does not contain a due diligence or good faith requirement because the rule's plain language does not reflect such obligations. As such, the time during which each Petitioner was incarcerated in another county is excluded from their speedy trial calculations. We therefore affirm the denial of each Petitioner's motion to dismiss.

FACTS

Andrew Guay

Guay was arrested for possession of stolen property, to wit, a telephone booth on May 14, 1997. He was held in King County jail for two days, but was released when charges were not filed. On December 23, 1997 the case was transferred to the Seattle City Attorney's office for possible charges. Meanwhile, *233 in December 1997, Guay was found guilty on an unrelated felony theft charge in King County and resided in county jail until February 1998, when he was transferred to McNeil Island Correction Center (MICC).

The City charged Guay on April 9, 1998 with misdemeanor possession of stolen property. An intake hearing was scheduled for April 28, 1998, but when Guay failed to appear, after notice had been sent to his last known address, a warrant was issued for his arrest. Notices of this warrant were sent in April and again in June. Guay learned of the warrant sometime during his incarceration at MICC. The record does not reflect any speedy trial demand by Guay. On September 18, 1998, both Guay's girl friend and a friend called the warrants office of the Seattle Police Department to tell them Guay was at MICC and indicated his release was approaching. His girl friend indicated that Guay would appear in the warrants office for a court date upon his release. Guay's counselor from MICC also phoned the warrants office twice in October 1998 and said Guay would be released on November 12, 1998. Guay was, in fact, released on that date.

Guay did not appear at the warrants office until January 13, 1999, whereupon the bench warrant that had been issued the previous April was cleared and Guay was released on his own recognizance. He was arraigned at an intake hearing in municipal court on February 2, 1999. Guay moved to dismiss the charge for violation of the speedy trial rule, CrRLJ 3.3, but the court denied the motion in August 1999, concluding that the time Guay spent in prison at MICC was excluded under CrRLJ 3.3(g)(5) because the City acted with due diligence in securing Guay's presence at trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to 120 days on work release. Guay urges that his speedy trial clock began to run on April 28, 1998. He points to a 300-day delay between the filing of his charges on April 9, 1998 and his first appearance in court on February 2, 1999.

Guay filed a RALJ appeal in King County Superior Court on the speedy trial issue. That court agreed with the municipal court that the time Guay spent in MICC was excluded but under a different rationale, to wit, he had not shown he was amenable to process while incarcerated in MICC, in another county. Guay next filed a motion for discretionary review with the Court of Appeals, which was denied. His motion to modify the commissioner's ruling was also denied by a panel of the court. This court granted his motion for discretionary review.

Donald Ackerman

Ackerman was twice arrested for driving under the influence (DUI): on October 27, 1998 in Clark County and on December 19, 1998 in King County. He was charged for the King County offense in Aukeen District Court on January 12, 1999. On January 21, 1999, Ackerman waived arraignment on the King County charge. He was in and out of court for the next year on both charges, during which he missed several appearances. The King County district court docket reflects two speedy trial waivers and an ultimate speedy trial deadline of November 30, 1999. On October 21, 1999, Ackerman pleaded guilty to the Clark County charge and was sentenced to 60 days in jail, to begin immediately. King County was notified of the sentencing four days later.

On November 8, 1999, a trial setting hearing was held on the King County charge during which Ackerman's attorney informed the court of Ackerman's incarceration in Clark County. The attorney also argued that the court had a duty to transport Ackerman so that his trial could begin within the speedy trial timeline. Because the arresting trooper was unavailable due to injury, a hearing was scheduled for November 17, 1999.

By the November 17, 1999 hearing, Ackerman's attorney had filed two demands for transport, yet Ackerman remained in Clark County jail. At that time, the arresting trooper was still unavailable. The court concluded that there was no mechanism by which district courts could compel the transfer of inmates held in other counties. It therefore held that the time during which Ackerman was jailed in Clark County was excluded from the speedy trial calculation pursuant to CrRLJ 3.3(g)(5). The court then issued an arrest warrant.

*234 Ackerman was released from jail in Clark County on December 19, 1999 and he reported to King County authorities within days of his release. In February, he moved for dismissal on speedy trial grounds, which was denied. In April 1999 Ackerman pleaded guilty on stipulated facts.

On RALJ appeal to King County Superior Court, the court affirmed the district court on the same grounds. Ackerman's motion for discretionary review filed in the Court of Appeals was denied, as was his motion to modify the commissioner's ruling. This court granted his motion for discretionary review.

ISSUES

Whether a duty of due diligence and good faith inheres in CrRLJ 3.3(g)(5) for speedy trial purposes.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 P.3d 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-seattle-v-guay-wash-2003.