Perdue v. Commonwealth

82 S.W.3d 909, 2002 Ky. LEXIS 155, 2002 WL 1940789
CourtKentucky Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 22, 2002
DocketNo. 2000-SC-0505-MR
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 82 S.W.3d 909 (Perdue v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Kentucky Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perdue v. Commonwealth, 82 S.W.3d 909, 2002 Ky. LEXIS 155, 2002 WL 1940789 (Ky. 2002).

Opinion

JOHNSTONE, Justice.

The main issue in this case is whether Appellant’s right to a speedy sentencing under RCr 11.02 and the U.S. Constitution was violated by a fifty-four (54) month delay after Perdue’s sentence was reversed and his case remanded for a new sentencing hearing. Because the delay did not prejudice Perdue, we conclude that the rule was not violated and affirm the trial court.

Perdue was convicted of complicity to arson and complicity to commit murder and was sentenced to death. Perdue v. Commonwealth, Ky., 916 S.W.2d 148 (1995), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 855, 117 S.Ct. 151, 136 L.Ed.2d 96 (1996). On appeal, we affirmed his conviction, but reversed his sentence and remanded his case for a new sentencing hearing. Id. at 170. The new sentencing hearing was never held. Rather, about fifty-four months after the case was remanded, Perdue was sentenced to two consecutive twenty-five year terms pursuant to an agreement he reached with the Commonwealth. The agreement expressly reserved Perdue’s right to appeal the denial of his motion for a new trial, which was based on allegations of juror misconduct.

On appeal, Perdue argues that the trial court erred in denying his new trial motion and that the lengthy delay in sentencing him violated his right to speedy sentencing under the Sixth Amendment’s Speedy Trial Clause and RCr 11.02, which provides in pertinent part that “[sjentence shall be imposed without unreasonable delay.”

I. Speedy Sentencing

In Pollard v. United States, 352 U.S. 354, 361, 77 S.Ct. 481, 486, 1 L.Ed.2d 393, 399 (1957), the U.S. Supreme Court assumed for the sake of argument that sentencing was “part of the trial for purposes of the Sixth Amendment.” Taking a cue from Pollard, a number of state and federal appellate courts either have held or have assumed that the Speedy Trial Clause of the Sixth Amendment applies to sentencing or re-sentencing in a criminal case. See generally Susan A. Thomas, annot., ‘When Does Delay in Imposing Sentence Violate Speedy Trial Provision, ” 86 A.L.R.4th 340, 1991 WL 741605 (Lawyers Coop.1991). The weight of this authority is highly persuasive and holds that a defendant has a right to a speedy trial [912]*912and to a speedy sentencing under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

A speedy-sentencing violation is analyzed using the familiar speedy trial balancing factors set forth in Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972). See, e.g., United States v. Juvenile Male, 939 F.2d 321, 325 at n. 6 (6th Cir.1991) (citing cases from all other federal circuits that have considered the issue). These factors are the length of delay, the reason for the delay, the defendant’s assertion of his right to a speedy trial, and prejudice to the defendant. Barker, 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d. at 117. While the factors are the same, they are balanced differently in a speedy sentencing case than they are in a speedy trial case because most of the interests protected by the Speedy Trial Clause are not implicated in a post-conviction situation.

The Sixth Amendment’s speedy trial guarantee prevents oppressive pretrial incarceration, minimizes the defendant’s anxiety and concerns, and limits the possibility that the defense will be impaired by delay. Barker, 407 U.S. at 532, 92 S.Ct. at 2193, 33 L.Ed.2d. at 118. Once the defendant has been convicted, these concerns are greatly reduced or are eliminated altogether. Perez v. Sullivan, 793 F.2d 249, 256 (10th Cir.1986). Thus, in a post-conviction situation the showing of prejudice dominates Barker’s four-part balancing test and only in the rarest of circumstances will a speedy-sentencing violation be found without a showing of prejudice. Id. Likewise, prejudice is the dominant consideration in determining whether there has been “unreasonable delay” in sentencing under RCr 11.02. See Commonwealth v. Tiryung, Ky., 709 S.W.2d 454, 456 (1986).

To show prejudice, Perdue claims that the delay in his sentencing prevented him from exercising his right to appeal under Section 115 of the Kentucky Constitution. Additionally, he contends that the delay prevented him from collaterally attacking his conviction under state and federal law.

A. Impairment of the Right of Appeal

In a case where there is a significant delay in the imposition of an original sentence from a conviction, the subsequent impairment of a defendant’s right to appeal his conviction and sentence can result in a denial of due process that prejudices a defendant:

[While] the Constitution does not require a state to provide a system of appeals, ... if a state chooses to do so, the appeal, too, must accord with the basic requirements of due process. Evitts v. Lucey, 469 U.S. 387, 393, 105 S.Ct. 830, 834, 83 L.Ed.2d 821 (1985) (“[I]f a State has created appellate courts as ‘an integral part of the ... system for finally adjudicating the guilt or innocence of a defendant,’ the procedures used in deciding appeals must comport with the demands of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Constitution.”) (quoting Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 18, 76 S.Ct. 585, 590, 100 L.Ed. 891 (1956)). Implicit in this conclusion is the idea that the enactment of an appellate system necessarily “alter[s] the balance between the layers of adjudication in a constitutionally significant manner.” Marc M. Arkin, Speedy Criminal Appeal: A Right Without a Remedy, 74 Minn. L.Rev. 437, 459 (1990). That is, the introduction of a second tier of adjudication unavoidably affects the operation and significance of the first tier. For this reason, due process places constraints on an appeal even if it does not require an appeal in the first place. The appeal forms an “integral” and inextricable part of the procedures for determining whether a [913]*913defendant should be deprived of his life, liberty, or property.

United States v. Smith, 94 F.3d 204, 207 (6th Cir.1996).

In the case of a delay in re-sentencing in which the death penalty is not imposed, the appeal from the new sentence no longer concerns the Commonwealth’s power to deprive a defendant of his or her liberty. Rather, the appeal only concerns the duration, if any, of the deprivation. While a defendant has “no substantive right to a particular sentence within the range authorized by statute,” he does have a “legitimate interest in the character of the procedure which leads to the imposition of sentence even if he may have no right to object to a particular result of the sentencing process.” Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 349, 358, 97 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
82 S.W.3d 909, 2002 Ky. LEXIS 155, 2002 WL 1940789, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perdue-v-commonwealth-ky-2002.