State v. Brown

950 P.2d 1365, 263 Kan. 759, 1998 Kan. LEXIS 15
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 23, 1998
Docket78,580
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 950 P.2d 1365 (State v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Brown, 950 P.2d 1365, 263 Kan. 759, 1998 Kan. LEXIS 15 (kan 1998).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Abbott, J.:

The trial court held that the defendant, Louis Brown, had been denied a speedy trial and dismissed the charges against the defendant. The State appeals this ruling.

Some understanding of what took place procedurally prior to the court’s ruling is necessary in deciding this appeal.

In 1995, the defendant appeared at the police station in Junction City, Kansas, to report that he had been robbed and struck in the lower leg by a xicochetting bullet. The wound looked older than .one would expect for a wound that had just been inflicted. An emergency technician looked at the wound and was of the opinion *760 it was several days old. The area in which the defendant claimed to have been robbed and shot apparently had a reputation of harboring illegal activities. The defendant was asked where his car was, and he denied knowing where it was. He claimed that he ran and could not remember where his car was located. However, the police knew that the defendant’s car was parked across the street from the police station.

The police decided to take the defendant into custody, at which point the defendant ran from the building. This led to his being charged with aggravated escape from custody and obstructing official duty by giving a false report. The police requested a search warrant to search the defendant’s car for drugs, apparently on the basis that he had been convicted of some drug offense in southeast Kansas and that he had lied about where his car was located. According to the police, this evidence furnished probable cause for a search warrant. The police obtained the search warrant and searched the defendant’s car for drugs, which were found. Thus, the defendant was also charged with possession of a narcotic, possession of a hallucinogenic drug, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving with a canceled, suspended, or revoked license, as well as driving under the influence of alcohol.

The defendant was arraigned on May 25,1995, and his jury trial was scheduled for July 14, 1995. On June 1, 1995, the State filed a motion to continue the trial because two police officers the State intended to call as witnesses were going to be on vacation during the time the trial was scheduled. On June 27,1995, the trial court, with the express consent of defense counsel, continued the trial until August 22, 1995.

On August 7,1995, the defendant filed a motion to suppress the drug evidence. At the defendant’s request, the jury trial was continued until October 11, 1995. The suppression motion was heard on August 30, 1995, and the trial court suppressed the drug evidence. The State filed a timely notice of interlocutory appeal to the Kansas Court of Appeals, challenging the trial court’s suppression of the evidence. The State obtained the Court of Appeals’ permission to docket its appeal out of time. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court in an unpublished opinion. The mandate *761 from the Court of Appeals was entered on September 7,1996, and received and filed in Geary County on September 11, 1996.

The trial court scheduled a jury trial for November 25,1996. On November 14, 1996, the defendant, through newly retained counsel, sought a continuance to give defense counsél time to prepare and because the State had not complied with the discovery order entered prior to the court’s suppression of the evidence. The trial was continued until January 16,1997. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss the charges against him based on the State’s failure to provide a speedy trial.

The defendant, in his motion to dismiss for lack of speedy trial, identified three areas of concern:

1. “That the time during which the interlocutory appeal by the State was pending herein should be counted for the purpose of determining the defendant’s entitlement and discharge.”

2. “That the defendant was held subject to an appearance bond during the pendency of the appeal by the prosecution herein in violation of K.S.A. 22-3604.”

3. “That since the defendant was held subject to an appearance bond in violation of K.S.A. 22-3604, the appeal by the State herein was an unauthorized interlocutory appeal and the time during which it was pending should not be charged against the defendant. Further, the appeal by the State was taken arbitrarily or negligently or in bad faith and the delay was not justifiable.”

The trial court granted the defendant’s motion and dismissed the charges against the defendant for denial of a speedy trial. In so ruling, the trial court held as follows:

“1. The defendant was arraigned on May 25,1995 and trial was set for July 14, 1995.
“2. After the Court granted the defendant’s motion to suppress, the plaintiff sought an appeal which was docketed by the Kansas Court of Appeals on October 26,1995.
“3. The mandate of the Kansas Court of Appeals was returned to the District Court on September 7,1996.
“4. Excluding that time while the appeal was pending and excluding the time chargeable to the defendant the plaintiff has exceeded the 180 days allowed under K.S.A. 22-3402.
*762 “It is therefore, by the COURT, Considered, Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed that the Defendant be and he is hereby discharged and the Defendant’s bond is hereby exonerated. The case is hereby dismissed and the costs charged to the State of Kansas.”

In deciding this case, we are somewhat handicapped by the fact that the trial judge gives us no clue as to how he computed the time that is to be charged to the State. Instead, the State comes up with a version of what the trial court must have intended, proceeds to set up a “straw man,” and then attacks the straw man. The defendant also comes up with his version of what the trial court must have intended and defends that position. We remind counsel that it is the appellant’s responsibility to furnish a record that shows reversible error. This sometimes requires the State to request the trial court to make additional findings of fact, which the State did not do herein.

The State makes no effort in its brief to set out what dates the trial judge properly charged to the defendant. Instead, it starts out with the premise that in order to have a violation of the statutory 180 days, the trial judge had to charge the State with the time between its filing of the interlocutory notice of appeal (September 5,1995) and the date the interlocutory appeal was docketed in the Court of Appeals (October 26, 1995). Unquestionably, this was an authorized appeal and one in which the Court of Appeals had jurisdiction; thus, State v. Grimes, 229 Kan. 143, 622 P.2d 143 (1981), does not apply. What applies are K.S.A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
950 P.2d 1365, 263 Kan. 759, 1998 Kan. LEXIS 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-brown-kan-1998.