State v. Downing

478 P.2d 420, 4 Or. App. 269, 1970 Ore. App. LEXIS 443
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedDecember 23, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 478 P.2d 420 (State v. Downing) 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. Downing, 478 P.2d 420, 4 Or. App. 269, 1970 Ore. App. LEXIS 443 (Or. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

FOLEY, J.

Defendant was convicted by a jury of knowingly uttering and publishing a forged bank check and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. He now appeals this conviction, setting out two assignments of error: (1) that he was denied his right to a speedy trial, and (2) that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial.

We first examine the speedy trial issue. On February 28, 1968, an information of felony charging defendant with the crime for which he was ultimately convicted was filed in Justice Court for the District of Astoria, Clatsop County, Oregon. On or about March 21, 1968, the Clatsop County sheriff’s office and the district attorney were informed that defendant was then in custody in Multnomah County on another charge. He was subsequently convicted there and sentenced to two years in prison. On or before June 18, 1968, the Clatsop County sheriff’s office received notice that defendant was confined in the Oregon State Penitentiary and immediately requested that the prison authorities place a detainer on him.

On February 18, 1969, almost a year after the original complaint had been lodged against him, defendant in propria persona filed in the Circuit Court *272 of Clatsop County a motion to dismiss the outstanding information of felony on the ground that he had been denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial. On March 5, 1969, the Clatsop County Grand Jury returned into circuit court an indictment accusing defendant of the same offense as that charged in the justice court, knowingly uttering and publishing a forged bank cheek. Defendant moved the Circuit Court of Clatsop County in a motion filed on May 29, 1969, to dismiss the indictment, alleging in essence that he had been denied a speedy trial.

On June 10, 1969, the Clatsop County Circuit Court appointed counsel for defendant. Counsel moved on July 14,1969, to dismiss the indictment of March 5, 1969, for the reason, in part, that defendant had been denied a speedy trial in contravention of the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of Oregon, and ORS 134.120. The motion was accompanied by defendant’s affidavit asserting prejudice. A hearing was held in Clatsop County Circuit Court on July 25, 1969, at which time the motions to dismiss the indictment were denied.

Defendant entered a plea of not guilty to the charge on August 1, 1969, and was brought to trial on September 10, 1969. This trial resulted in a mistrial, on defendant’s motion, and a second trial was had on October 10, 1969. Defendant was convicted and, on October 13, 1969, sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. The issue of speedy trial is now before us.

The right of every criminally accused to have a speedy trial is beyond dispute. State v. Sieckmann, 3 Or App 454, 474 P2d 367 (1970); Klopfer v. North Carolina, 386 US 213, 87 S Ct 988, 18 L Ed 2d 1 (1967). Furthermore, it is a well estab *273 lished rule in Oregon that the state has a duty to afford the accused a speedy trial and the accused is not required to take affirmative action to enforce this right. State v. Vawter, 236 Or 85, 386 P2d 915 (1963); Bevel v. Gladden, 232 Or 578, 376 P2d 117 (1962). The fact that an accused is an inmate of a penal institution, as defendant was here, does not deprive him of that right. State v. Evans, 249 Or 314, 432 P2d 175 (1967), cert den 390 US 971, 88 S Ct 1093, 19 L Ed 2d 1182 (1968). However, in 1955 the Oregon legislature adopted a special procedural requirement for an accused who is an inmate of the Oregon State Penitentiary or the Oregon State Correctional Institution. ORS 134.510 to 134.530 provides that an accused confined to one of these institutions may give written notice to the district attorney to bring him to trial, and if trial is not held within 90 days of receipt of that notice the criminal proceeding should be dismissed. Should an inmate-accused, represented by counsel, fail to avail himself of this procedure he will be deemed to have waived the right to secure dismissal of an indictment because of unreasonable delay in being brought to trial. State v. Vawter, supra. The question whether an inmate-accused who is not represented by counsel is held to the same procedural requirements has not been answered. The Supreme Court in State v. Vawter, supra, specifically left that question open. The defendant in this case did not request the district attorney to bring him to trial as provided in ORS 134.510'to 134.530.

A speedy trial is guaranteed to every criminally accused by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and by Art I, § 10 of the Oregon Constitution. State v. Evans, supra. No statute of this state can remove or severely restrict that *274 guarantee. However, reasonable statutory procedural requirements may be adopted to implement this constitutional right in the day-to-day administration of justice. ORS 134.510 to 134.530 is such a provision. Nevertheless, in the absence of a showing that an inmate-accused, who is not represented by counsel, was aware of the special procedure afforded by ORS 134.-510 to 134.530, we think it would not meet the requirements of Oregon Constitution, Art I, § 10, to determine that he has waived his right to a speedy trial by failing to avail himself of the rights accorded under those statutes. We hold, therefore, that in the above circumstances the failure of an inmate-accused to proceed under ORS 134.510 to 134.530 does not constitute a waiver of his right to secure dismissal of criminal charges for any unreasonable, unjustifiable delay in bringing him to trial. Vawter tells us that once the accused obtains counsel, the requirements of ORS 134.510 to 134.530 apply. However, he retains the right to seek a remedy for any undue lapse of time prior to obtaining counsel. We must now apply this holding to the facts at hand.

As we have already indicated, a formal complaint was filed against defendant in Clatsop County on February 28, 1968, which as we shall later discuss marks the beginning of the time after which there shall be no unreasonable delay. The record before us is unclear as to the time of defendant’s availability but, because criminal proceedings were being conducted against him in Multnomah County, he may not have been available for prosecution by Clatsop County authorities until approximately June 18,1968, when they learned he had been taken to prison from Multnomah County.

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Bluebook (online)
478 P.2d 420, 4 Or. App. 269, 1970 Ore. App. LEXIS 443, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-downing-orctapp-1970.