State v. Benner

288 P.3d 1016, 253 Or. App. 164, 2012 WL 5286187, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1303
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 24, 2012
Docket101040; A145265
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 288 P.3d 1016 (State v. Benner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Benner, 288 P.3d 1016, 253 Or. App. 164, 2012 WL 5286187, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1303 (Or. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

DUNCAN, J.

In this criminal case, defendant moved to dismiss the indictment against him on the ground that the state failed to bring him to trial within 90 days of receipt of his request for a speedy trial, as required by ORS 135.760 to 135.765, set out below. The trial court denied the motion, concluding that defendant had waived his right to a speedy trial by failing to object to his scheduled trial date, which was outside of the 90-day period, when the date was mentioned at two pretrial hearings.

Thereafter, defendant tried his case to the court and was convicted. He appeals, assigning error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to dismiss. Because we conclude that defendant did not waive his speedy trial right, we reverse and remand for entry of judgment of dismissal.

The statutes that govern defendant’s speedy trial right in this case are ORS 135.760, ORS 135.763, and ORS 135.765. ORS 135.760 provides:

“(1) Any inmate in the custody of the Department of Corrections or of the supervisory authority of a county pursuant to a commitment under ORS 137.124(2) against whom there is pending at the time of commitment or against whom there is filed at any time during imprisonment, in any court of this state, an indictment, information or criminal complaint charging the inmate with the commission of a crime, may give written notice to the district attorney of the county in which the inmate is so charged requesting the district attorney to prosecute and bring the inmate to trial on the charge forthwith.
“(2) The notice provided for in subsection (1) of this section shall be signed by the inmate and set forth the place and term of imprisonment. A copy of the notice shall be sent to the court in which the inmate has been charged by indictment, information or complaint.”

ORS 135.763 provides:

“(1) The district attorney, after receiving a notice requesting trial under ORS 135.760, shall, within 90 days of receipt of the notice, bring the inmate to trial upon the pending charge.
[167]*167“(2) The court shall grant any reasonable continuance with the consent of the defendant. Notwithstanding the defendant’s lack of consent, the court may grant a continuance on motion of the district attorney or on its own motion, for good cause shown. The fact of imprisonment is not good cause for the purposes of this subsection.”

ORS 135.765 provides:

“(1) On motion of the defendant or the counsel of the defendant, or on its own motion, the court shall dismiss any criminal proceeding not brought to trial in accordance with ORS 135.763.
“(2) This section shall not apply:
“(a) When failure to bring the inmate to trial within 90 days after the district attorney receives notice under ORS 135.760 was the result of motions filed on behalf of the inmate, or of a grant by the court of a continuance on motion of the district attorney or on its own motion, for good cause shown; or
“(b) When the inmate is unavailable for trial, other than by imprisonment, or because of other pending criminal proceedings against the inmate.”

Thus, a district attorney who receives a speedy trial request from an inmate shall bring the inmate to trial within 90 days of receipt of the request. If the district attorney fails to do so, the trial court shall dismiss the criminal proceeding, unless the failure is the result of motions filed on behalf of the inmate, continuances granted for good cause shown, or the unavailability of the inmate (for reasons other than the inmate’s imprisonment).

Once the district attorney receives an inmate’s request for a speedy trial, the statutory scheme “plainly places responsibility on the district attorney to bring an inmate to trial [.]” State v. Gilliland, 90 Or App 477, 480, 752 P2d 1255 (1988).That is because“[the legislature] recognized that ‘the progression of a criminal prosecution is largely in control of the state.’” State v. Person, 113 Or App 40, 43, 831 P2d 700 (1992), aff’d, 316 Or 585, 853 P2d 813 (1993) (quoting Gilliland, 90 Or App at 481). Under the statutory scheme, “[t]he state cannot abdicate its responsibility to control a prosecution. It must take affirmative action to bring [168]*168a defendant to trial within 90 days, request a continuance for good cause or suffer a dismissal under ORS 135.765.” Id. at 44. Thus, an inmate is not required to remind the district attorney of the 90-day limit, nor is an inmate required to object to a trial date set outside the 90-day time period without his involvement. See, e.g., State v. Johnson, 339 Or 69, 95, 116 P3d 879 (2005) (recognizing the “well-established principle that it is the state’s obligation, and not the defendant’s, to bring a defendant to trial within a reasonable period of time”); State v. Vawter, 236 Or 85, 87, 386 P2d 915 (1963) (holding that, in Oregon, “it is not incumbent upon the accused to demand a trial or take affirmative action to enforce his right to a speedy trial”); State v. Chadwick, 150 Or 645, 650, 47 P2d 232 (1935) (“The law imposes no duty on a defendant, charged with a crime, of calling his case for trial or insisting that it be set for trial at any particular time. That duty devolves upon the state.”); State v. Arwood, 46 Or App 653, 657, 612 P2d 763 (1980) ([W]here the “[defendant had asserted his statutory demand for trial within 180 days [under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers],” “[s]omething more than his mere silence at arraignment [when a trial date was set outside the 180-day period] must serve to belie his earlier intention”).

However, a defendant who has requested a speedy trial pursuant to ORS 135.760 may waive that right. State v. Hunter, 316 Or 192, 199, 850 P2d 366 (1993) (a defendant may waive “the statutory rights created under ORS 135.760 to 135.765”). A waiver is “an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege.” State v. Meyrick,

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Related

State v. Storkus
479 P.3d 320 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2020)
State v. Neal
320 P.3d 664 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
288 P.3d 1016, 253 Or. App. 164, 2012 WL 5286187, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1303, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-benner-orctapp-2012.