Commonwealth v. Brown

875 A.2d 1128, 2005 Pa. Super. 180, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1284
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 19, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 875 A.2d 1128 (Commonwealth v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Brown, 875 A.2d 1128, 2005 Pa. Super. 180, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1284 (Pa. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

GANTMAN, J.:

¶ 1 Appellant, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, asks us to determine whether the trial court erred in granting the Rule 600 motion to dismiss, filed on behalf of Appellee, Malik Brown. We hold the court erred in dismissing the case against Appellee, where the Commonwealth exercised due diligence and did not engage in any misconduct designed to evade Appel-lee’s fundamental speedy trial rights. Accordingly, we reverse.

¶ 2 The relevant facts and procedural history of this appeal are as follows. On April 14, 1999, John Wilson was shot to death at a playground in North Philadelphia. Two witnesses identified Appellee as the shooter after viewing photo arrays prepared by police. On August 25, 1999, the Commonwealth issued a criminal complaint charging Appellee with murder 1 , robbery 2 , firearms not to be carried without a license 3 , possessing instruments of crime 4 , and carrying firearms on public streets or public property in Philadelphia. 5

The case was first listed on 09/01/99 and was [re-listed for 09/07/99 before being] continued to 09/16/99 because the Commonwealth needed a witness and because [Appellee’s] attorney, Gerald Stein, Esquire, had just been retained. On 09/16/99, the Commonwealth again requested a continuance, since it had been unable to locate a witness. [Appel-lee] was ready. The case was continued to the earliest possible date (“EPD”) of 09/29/99.
On 09/29/99, [Appellee] was held for court on all charges, and an arraignment date of 10/20/99 was scheduled.
On 10/20/99, an arraignment was held and the case was continued to 11/05/99 for a pre-trial conference before Judge Lazarus in Room 707. On the 11/05/99 listing, it is noted that discovery was just received and motions were to be filed by 12/03/99.
On 12/03/99 the case was given a new date of 12/10/99 for a further pre-trial conference. The case was “spun” to Judge Lazarus. On 12/10/99, the case was continued to 01/07/00 for a further pre-trial conference, as per [Appellee’s] request.
On 01/07/00, the Quarter Sessions file reflects there was still discovery out *1132 standing. The ease was spun to Judge Jackson and was given a date of 01/28/00 for a Scheduling Conference before him. [Assistant District Attorney] Williams was present for the Commonwealth, as was Mr. Stein for [Appellee.]
On 1/28/00, at a Scheduling Conference before Judge Jackson, the Quarter Sessions file notes that the case was a “capital jury case,” and was continued to 03/01/00 for status of discovery.
On 03/01/00, discovery was finally passed to [Appellee], minus the names and addresses of the Commonwealth witnesses. The earliest possible date for a jury trial before Judge Jackson was 09/25/00, however, [Appellee’s] counsel was unavailable on that date, due to another trial. A trial date of 11/06/00 was .therefore given, and Mr. Stein was attached for that date.
* * *
On 08/07/00, Judge Glazer [who was assigned to the case following Judge Jackson’s retirement] held a pre-trial conference regarding the case. He ordered the trial date of 11/06/00' to remain, and ordered both counsel attached.
On 11/06/00 the trial was continued until 04/24/01 [due to Appellee’s advance request for continuance]. On 04/24/01, Judge Glazer had another homicide jury trial in progress, and the case was continued to 05/29/01.
On 05/29/01, the Quarter Sessions file simply notes, “Capital case. Listed for jury trial.” A trial date of 07/02/01 was given. However, on 07/02/01, the case did not proceed to trial and, instead, was given a status listing of 09/07/01, and a new trial date of 02/20/02. Further status listings were held on 09/07/01 and 12/07/01, with the 02/20/02 trial date still noted at each of those listings.
However, the case still did not proceed to trial on 02/20/02. Instead, it was listed before that date — on 01/09/02— before the Honorable Peter Rogers, for a pre-trial conference. [Court administration reassigned this case to Judge Rogers after Judge Glazer had been transferred to the Civil Division.] According to the Quarter Sessions file, Mr. Stein was in federal court on 01/09/02, so the case was re-listed to 01/17/02 for the pre-trial conference. The Quarter Sessions file notes that discovery was complete. At the 01/17/02 pre-trial conference, a new trial date of 04/08/02 was given, and it was noted that this was the EPD. The Quarter Sessions file also notes, “Capital case — Discovery complete- No motion. 8 day jury.”
On 04/08/02, the case was continued because Mr. Stein was on trial elsewhere. He had presented an advance defense request to the [trial court] for the continuance. The time was ruled excluda-ble until the next trial date of 09/23/02, and Mr. Stein was attached.
Before the next trial listing, however, the case was [reassigned from Judge Rogers’ inventory and] listed on 09/16/02, before Judge Mazzola. The Quarter Sessions file simply notes, “List for Capital Jury Trial. 2 weeks.” A trial date of 04/21/03 was given. There is no indication in the Quarter Sessions file as to why the case was given such an extended trial listing, nor that 04/21/03 was the [earliest possible date].
On 04/21/03, [Appellee’s] trial did not proceed because Judge Mazzola was on a jury trial with another matter. No other courtroom was available to hear the case that day. The case was given a new trial date of 05/29/03 for a capital jury trial.
[On 04/25/03, Appellee filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 600.]
*1133 On 05/29/03, Judge Mazzola was unavailable, due to illness. The case was given a status date of 06/26/03. Then, on 06/26/03, the case was continued to 06/30/03, to [Judge Sarmina] for a “600 Motion.”
On 06/30/03, [the trial court] commenced the hearing on the [Rule] 600 Motion to Dismiss. This hearing was bifurcated, 6 and additional evidence was presented on [07/17/03,] 07/18/03 [07/22/03, and 07/23/03].

(Trial Court Opinion, filed February 10, 2004, at 1-7) (internal footnotes omitted).

¶ 3 Although the court had not yet ruled on Appellee’s Rule 600 motion, his trial commenced on July 28, 2003. On August 1, 2003, the trial court declared a mistrial, because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. On September 10, 2003, the trial court granted Appellee’s Rule 600 motion, finding: 1) the Commonwealth did not exercise due diligence in moving Ap-pellee’s case to trial; 2) the instant case substantially exceeded the time limits of Rule 600; and, 3) Appellee’s right to a prompt and speedy trial was violated. The Commonwealth timely filed this appeal.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
875 A.2d 1128, 2005 Pa. Super. 180, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-brown-pasuperct-2005.