State Ex Rel. Forsyth v. District Court of the Eleventh Judicial District

701 P.2d 1346, 216 Mont. 480, 1985 Mont. LEXIS 818
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 2, 1985
Docket84-415
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 701 P.2d 1346 (State Ex Rel. Forsyth v. District Court of the Eleventh Judicial District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Ex Rel. Forsyth v. District Court of the Eleventh Judicial District, 701 P.2d 1346, 216 Mont. 480, 1985 Mont. LEXIS 818 (Mo. 1985).

Opinions

MR. JUSTICE WEBER

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

Jerry Paul Forsyth (Forsyth) was charged with deliberate homicide in Flathead County District Court for allegedly killing his wife, Karen Forsyth, on December 11, 1979. Forsyth has filed a petition for a writ of supervisory control claiming jury tampering and prosecutorial misconduct in a previous trial which is claimed to warrant dismissal of the proceeding, denial of speedy trial and error of the District Court in ordering a change in the place of trial. We decline jurisdiction of the petition for supervisory control.

The issues raised in the petition are:

1. Was Forsyth denied a speedy trial?

2. Has jeopardy attached because of jury tampering or prosecutorial misconduct?

3. Does prosecutorial misconduct in this case constitute a deprivation of due process sufficient to warrant dismissal of the criminal proceeding?

4. Did the district court err in ordering a change in the place of trial?

On January 28, 1980, Forsyth was charged with deliberate homicide. The first trial was held in Flathead County during March and April 1980 and resulted in Forsyth’s conviction. That conviction was reversed by this Court in State v. Forsyth (1982), 197 Mont. 248, 642 P.2d 1035. Forsyth’s second trial commenced in Lake County on December 1, 1982, and a mistrial because of jury deadlock was declared by the district court on January 2, 1983.

Following the second trial, various motions and orders were made with regard to the furnishing of a partial and complete transcript. [483]*483Forsyth petitioned this Court for supervisory control regarding appointment of counsel. On May 11, 1983, this Court held there was no showing sufficient to warrant supervisory control. Forsyth then asked for a hearing on availability of public defender firms to represent him. That hearing was held on June 22, 1983, and resulted in the appointment of public defenders as counsel. Forsyth petitioned this Court a second time for a writ of supervisory control and on October 6, 1983, the writ was granted and Forsyth’s present counsel was appointed at public expense.

On November 14, 1983, the district court set a tentative trial date for February 1984. At a conference in December 1983 Forsyth renewed motions for evidentiary hearings on jury tampering and prosecutorial misconduct. Evidentiary hearings were held as requested by Forsyth and on April 24, 1984, the district court denied the motion to dismiss for double jeopardy and lack of due process predicated upon jury tampering and prosecutorial misconduct. On May 10, 1984, Forsyth moved to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial, but his motion was denied on May 23, 1984.

On June 6, 1984, the trial court ordered that the trial be held in Flathead County with a jury selected in Toole County. The court set a trial date of October 1, 1984. Forsyth again moved the court to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial. The district court denied this motion on July 13, 1984. Forsyth then advised the district court of his intent to file a third petition for supervisory control and the district court then vacated the October 1, 1984, trial date.

I

In view of the number of requests for supervisory writs in this action, it is appropriate that we review the fundamental standards for assumption of supervisory control. Under Article VII, Section 2(2), Montana Constitution, this Court has general supervisory control over all courts. Rule 17, M.R.App.Civ.P. describes the procedure for original writs and in part states:

“The Supreme Court is an appellate court but it is empowered by the constitution of Montana to hear and determine such original and remedial writs as may be necessary or proper to the complete exercise of its jurisdiction. The institution of such original proceedings in the Supreme Court is sometimes justified by circumstances of an emergency nature, as when a cause of action or a right has [484]*484arisen under conditions making due consideration in the trial courts and due appeal to this court an inadequate remedy . . .”

In view of the substantial increase in applications for supervisory control in recent years, it is also appropriate to restate the basic standards guiding acceptance of original jurisdiction by this Court, as stated in State ex rel. O’Sullivan v. District Court (1946), 119 Mont. 429, 431-432, 175 P.2d 763, 764:

“[S]upervisory control is an extraordinary remedy, to be exercised only in extraordinary circumstances. We have said . . . that to justify such a writ an exigency or emergency must be shown to exist, or that a gross injustice would result from a denial of the writ, and the absence of other adequate relief .... ‘As the appellate jurisdiction was granted for the purpose of revision and correction, and the original jurisdiction under these writs was granted to enable us to render such relief as is appropriate under them, so the supervisory power was granted to meet emergencies to which those other powers and instrumentalities are not commensurate. It is independent of both, and was designed to infringe upon the functions of neither. It has its own appropriate functions, and, without undertaking to define particularly what these functions are, we think one of them is to enable this court to control the course of litigation in the inferior courts where those courts are proceeding within [their] jurisdiction, but by mistake of law, or willful disregard of it, are doing a gross injustice, and there is no appeal or the r.emedy by appeal is inadequate ....”’ [Citation omitted.]

In 1902, this Court pointed out that an application for supervisory relief must establish more than simple error, otherwise, the writ “would lie to correct each and every mistake of district courts, and in great measure supplant the ordinary appeal.” State ex rel. Harris v. District Court (1902), 27 Mont. 280, 282, 70 P. 981, 982. These basic principles regarding assumption of supervisory control are embodied in Rule 17, M.R.App.Civ.P., which requires that an applicant establish circumstances of an emergency nature, as when a cause has arisen under conditions making consideration at the trial level and appeal to this Court an inadequate remedy.

We will now review the record in this case to determine whether there are extraordinary facts which warrant issuance of a supervisory writ.

[485]*485II

Because the facts relevant to all four issues are intertwined we will first review the facts in general.

Bailiff’s Juror Communications

The bailiff during the second trial as well as eight regular jurors and two alternate jurors testified at an April 5, 1984, hearing before the district court regarding the bailiff’s oral communications with the jury.

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Bluebook (online)
701 P.2d 1346, 216 Mont. 480, 1985 Mont. LEXIS 818, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-forsyth-v-district-court-of-the-eleventh-judicial-district-mont-1985.