Key v. State

463 A.2d 633, 1983 Del. LEXIS 450
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedJune 16, 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 463 A.2d 633 (Key v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Key v. State, 463 A.2d 633, 1983 Del. LEXIS 450 (Del. 1983).

Opinion

MOORE, Justice:

The defendant, David L. Key, faced a series of charges stemming from the armed robbery of a grocery store, including robbery in the first degree, kidnapping in the first degree, assault and related deadly weapons counts. After trial before a Superior Court judge sitting without a jury, Key was convicted of certain of these crimes. On the State’s post-trial motion, Key was also declared an habitual criminal under 11 Del.C. § 4214 and sentenced to life imprisonment. In his appeal from the convictions and the sentence as an habitual criminal, Key first contends that the passage of five months between his conviction and the imposition of sentence violated his federal and state constitutional rights to a speedy trial. Key also argues that he had a constitutional right to a jury determination of his habitual criminal status. Finally, we address as a matter of first impression Key’s claim that the trial judge erred in convicting him of first degree unlawful imprisonment (11 Del.C. § 782) as a lesser included offense of first degree kidnapping (11 Del.C. § 783A). We reject these assertions and affirm the Superior Court in all respects.

I.

On the evening of June 4,1981, Marianne Gillen was working as the cashier at a Stop-N-Go grocery store near Wilmington, Delaware. Her sister, Susan, and another young woman came into the store to visit. Key entered a short time later. He purportedly wanted to cash rolls of pennies and buy a pack of cigarettes. Susan, who had gone behind the counter to wait on him, *635 accepted the rolls of pennies and put the cigarettes and change on the counter. Key then grabbed her and tried to pull her across the counter. Marianne rushed over, broke his hold, and Susan fell to the floor.

At this point Key began to come around the counter. Pulling out a knife, he said, “this is a robbery,” and brandishing the weapon in front of the girls’ faces, ordered them to open the cash register. In response to his demands Marianne pulled the cash drawer out of the register and threw it on the counter. Key started to scoop money from the drawer and stuff it into his pockets.

He then began to use abusive and obscene language, threatening to kill the women. He grabbed Marianne, but the two sisters resisted by holding on to each other. Key struggled with them, saying he was going to take Susan in order to prevent them from calling the police. During the fracas, Susan was slashed in the neck.

Key was indicted for first degree kidnapping (11 DeLC. § 783A), second degree assault (11 Del.C. § 612), two counts of first degree robbery (11 Del.C. § 832), and three counts of possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony (11 Del.C. § 1447). In January 1982, a Superi- or Court judge, sitting without a jury, found Key guilty of second degree assault and one count each of first degree robbery and possession of a deadly weapon. He was acquitted of the other robbery charge. Decision was reserved, pending additional briefing by counsel, on the kidnapping charge and an associated weapons count. 1 In early April 1982, the trial judge found Key guilty of first degree unlawful imprisonment (11 Del.C. § 782), as a lesser included offense of first degree kidnapping, and possession of a deadly weapon during commission of the crime of unlawful imprisonment. Sentencing was scheduled for mid-May, five weeks later.

At the time of sentence the State sought and obtained a ten day postponement in order to file a motion to have Key declared an habitual criminal. 2 The motion was filed in early June, about a week after it was due, but the trial judge nonetheless accepted and considered it. Key then requested a jury trial on the issue of his status as an habitual criminal. Each side submitted briefs on the question, and in late August the trial judge denied Key’s request. The habitual criminal hearing was held as scheduled in mid-October, and about two weeks later Key was ordered imprisoned for life.

II.

A.

Because of the habitual criminal matter and attendant procedural questions, sentence was imposed about five months after the originally scheduled sentencing date and seven months after Key’s conviction. He now argues that this constitutes a delay violative of the federal and state constitutional guarantees to a speedy trial. 3 The State concedes that Delaware courts have applied a speedy trial analysis to claims such as Key’s. However, it contends that Key caused part of the alleged delay, and in any event, he suffered no prejudice.

*636 When this Court considered a speedy trial challenge to an alleged sentencing delay in Johnson v. State, Del.Supr., 305 A.2d 622 (1973), there was no definitive decision on that subject from the Supreme Court of the United States. See Johnson, 305 A.2d at 623. The situation has not changed. Thus, we reaffirm the approach taken in Johnson: assuming that the sixth amendment requires speedy sentencing, an allegedly unconstitutional delay is examined in the same way as an asserted denial of the right to speedy trial. Therefore, we consider the conduct of both the prosecution and the defendant, looking primarily at (1) the length of the delay, (2) the cause of the delay, (3) the defendant’s assertion of his rights, and (4) any prejudice to the defendant because of the delay. Johnson, 305 A.2d at 623. See Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972). Individually, none of these factors is conclusive; they are related “and must be considered together with such other circumstances as may be relevant”. Barker, 407 U.S. at 533, 92 S.Ct. at 2193. See Johnson, 305 A.2d at 624.

The usual case involves a postponement in the start of trial, and the attendant passage of time becomes a general indicator of the need for a full examination of that issue. Barker, 407 U.S. at 530-31, 92 S.Ct. at 2191-92. The extent of delay also is of importance when the prosecution attempts to justify it or show a lack of prejudice to the defendant. Dickey v. Florida, 398 U.S. 30, 48 n. 12, 90 S.Ct. 1564, 1574 n. 12, 26 L.Ed.2d 26 (1970) (Brennan, J., concurring); United States v. Macino, 486 F.2d 750, 752 (7th Cir.1973). Although the five month interval between Key’s conviction and sentencing is certainly less than the delays in other cases [see Johnson, 305 A.2d at 623; State v. Drake, Iowa Supr., 259 N.W.2d 862, 865 (1977) (citing cases)], we can not say that it is so negligible as to obviate closer examination. See also Barker, 407 U.S. at 531, 92 S.Ct. at 2192.

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463 A.2d 633, 1983 Del. LEXIS 450, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/key-v-state-del-1983.