People v. Tommy

Opinion

IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF GUAM 2

3 PEOPLE OF GUAM, ) Criminal Case no. CM 0992::1 OC ~ u 4 ) ) 5 v. ) DECISION AND ORDER ) re: Motion to Dismiss 6 TOMSON TOMMY, ) 7 ) ) 8 Defendant. 9

ll INTRODUCTION

12 This matter came before the Honorable Judge Michael J. Bordallo on January 18th, 13 2013. The People were represented by Assistant Attorney General James Stake. The Defendant 14 was represented by Assistant Public Defender Suresh Sampath. The Court finds that there was 15

16 an unreasonable delay in the service of the warrant and therefor the Court now issues the

17 following decision and order granting Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the case with prejudice. 18 BACKGROUND 19 On November 15, 2009, the Defendant was arrested for DUI and given a Notice to 20 appear on November 10, 2010. Almost one year later and eleven days prior to the statute of 21

22 limitations expiring, a complaint was filed against the Defendant. The Defendant did not appear

23 at the November 1oth hearing and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Despite not leaving island 24 or changing his home or work addresses, the warrant was not executed for over nineteen 25 months. The Defendant was arrested on July 6, 2012, pursuant to the warrant and subsequently 26

27 arraigned on July 181h, 2012.

Page 1 of3 DISCUSSION 2 The Defendant has moved the Court to dismiss his case for failure to be speedily 3 arraigned. Recent Guam case law has held that unless good cause is shown, a complaint shall 4 be dismissed where a defendant is not arraigned within 60 days of the filing of the complaint. 5

6 People v Rasauo, 2011 Guam 14, ~ 14(Rasauo II). Furthermore, the Supreme Court in Rasauo 7 II noted that Guam law states "it shall be the duty of all courts and judicial officers and ... " to 8 expedite such proceedings. 9 The Government has rested its opposition on the argument that the delay is justified 10

1l because a warrant was outstanding and there was nothing further for it to do. As stated above

12 and held num r us times, the delay in the service of a summons, which is also outside the 13 control of the prosecutor, is grounds for dismi sal under Guam law. Rasauo II and its prodigy 14 set the limit for service of a summons at 60 days. While the Court does not state any time limit 15 for the service of a warrant, the Court finds that wber the Defendant has not moved has the 16

17 same address, and has the same employer, as is set forth here, nineteen months is in excess of

18 the r onable time to serve the warrant, absent a clear demonstration of good cause. No 19 evidence of the reas n for the delay is serving tb warrant is profti red. As pre ent d the 20 Defendant had the same home and work addre as that pre ented when he was first arr t d. 21 There is no evidence he avoided service. Most noteworthy is that th re is no evidence there was 22

23 any attempt to even serve the warrant until July, 2012.

24 The ,ourt is mindful of th excess workload and limited resources availabl to 25 th marshals, as they work directly under th upervision of the Judiciary. Hov ever, as the 26 Hawaii courts noted, the volume of warrants and lack of manpower cannot be h ld to e cu 27

28 timely service of a warrant. State v Lei, 21 P.3d 8 0 (Haw. 2001). The Government also h the

Pagel of3 assistance of the police to execute warrants and the presumption of their cooperation in cases 2 that are prioritized. 3 CONCLUSION 4

5 Based on the foregoing, the court holds that Guam law requires warrants to be served 6 without undue delay and that absent good cause, the failure to serve a warrant and arraign a 7 defendant is grounds for dismissal under Rasauo II and its prodigy. The Court finds that the 8

9 facts presented in this case, including the absence of any evidence of good cause, warrant

10 dismissal of the case. The only meaningful sanction is a dismissal with prejudice. Therefor the II Court GRANTS Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the case with prejudice. 12 The Defendant shall prepare the judgment of dismissal and get it approved as to form. 13

15 SO ORDERED, this 6th day of May 2013.

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