State v. Gettys

360 N.E.2d 735, 49 Ohio App. 2d 241, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 286, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5818
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 30, 1976
Docket13-75-15
StatusPublished
Cited by83 cases

This text of 360 N.E.2d 735 (State v. Gettys) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Gettys, 360 N.E.2d 735, 49 Ohio App. 2d 241, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 286, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5818 (Ohio Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

*242 Per Curiam.

This is an appeal from defendant’s conviction and sentence for a violation of R. C. 3719.41 (possession of an hallucinogen) on July 30, 1973. The case was originally tried on January 16, 1974, and the defendant was thereafter convicted and sentenced. However, in an appeal to this court that conviction was reversed and on July 29, 1974, the judgment entry of reversal, remanding the case for further proceedings, was filed with the clerk. A second trial was thereafter held on July 24, 1975. In the interim, the trial court had adopted a rule providing for videotape trials (that is: a presentation to the jury of evidence by means of prerecorded testimony of witnesses taken in the absence of the jury before it was convened or selected, and not merely the recording of the trial by videotape in place of or by supplementing the normal stenographic recording process). 2 The second trial was conducted in accordance with this rule and again resulted in a conviction and sentence. It will be noted that the defendant has not been imprisoned at any time during the course of these proceedings, and that the sentence (which called for a fine and a suspended sentence of 30 days) has been stayed pending appeal.

The defendant appeals asserting four assignments of error, the first two of which concern portions of the court’s charge to which an objection was made; the third concerns the constitutionality of a videotape trial of the kind here conducted; and the last concerns the constitutional issue of speedy trial, the defendant asserting that the court erred in overruling a motion to discharge made on July 16, 1975.

The first three alleged errors, if found to exist and to be prejudicial, would require simply a new trial. The fourth assignment, however, would require a reversal and discharge of the defendant and is therefore the more basic assertion of error. For this reason we Avill discuss this assignment of error first.

I. Assignment of Error No. 4 states: “The trial court erred in overruling defendant-appellant’s motion to discharge him for the reason he was denied a speedy trial.”

*243 The appellant first cites us to a Rule of Superintendence of the Supreme Court requiring all criminal cases to be tried within six months of the date of arraignment and providing for reporting to the Chief Justice of any cases of non-compliance (Sup. Rule 8[B]).

It will be noted that whereas rules of procedure adopted by the Supreme Court require submission to the legislature, rules of superintendence are not so submitted and, hence, are of a different category. They are not the equivalent of rules of procedure and have no force equivalent to a statute. They are purely internal housekeeping rules which are of concern to the judges of the several courts but create no rights in individual defendants. Similar considerations concern the additional citation to the Rules of Superintendence for Municipal and County Courts (Rule 5). See Constitution of Ohio, Section 5, Article IV.

We are cited further to R. C. 2945.71(B), which reads:

“A person against whom a charge of misdemeanor, other than a minor misdemeanor, is pending in a court of record, shall be brought to trial:
“(1)'Within forty-five days after his arrest or the service of summons, if the offense charged is a misdemeanor of the third or fourth degree, or other - misdemeanoi for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for not more than sixty days *

It will be noted that this section is specifically directed to an original trial and was not in effect at the time of the first trial of this cause. It requires a trial within a specified period after arrest or service of summons. It is, on reversal and retrial, impossible to comply with these requirements. Had the legislature wished to have established a maximum time before retrial it could have so stated; It did not and it is not the function of this court to fill the omission by what would amount to judicial legislation. The statute has no application.

A second reason for this conclusion exists. This court has determined On previous occasions that the requirements of R. C. 2945.71, et seq., are governed by the provisions of Section 3 of H.B. 511. (See R. O. 2901.01 and footnote thereunder in Page’s Ohio Revised Code.)

*244 “ * * * Persons charged with an offense, other than a capital offense, committed prior to the effective date specified in Section 4 of this act shall be prosecuted under the law as it existed at the time the offense was committed.”

We have held, with regard to the time within which trials must take place, that the law as it existed at the time the offense was committed governs and that R. C. 2945.71 is only applicable to crimes committed after January 1, 1974. (State v. Smith, unreported, Court of Appeals for Allen County, No. 1-74-34, motion to certify overruled February 21,1975.) The offense here involved was committed on July 30,1973; hence, the section is not applicable.

Former R. C. 2945.71 applied only to persons detained in jail and this defendant was not incarcerated. Former R. C. 2945.72 pertained to a person held by recognizance without trial but is applicable to the first trial not a retrial. Furthermore, we can find in the record before us no indication the defendant was, in fact, held under recognizance.

We find and are cited to no further appropriate statutory requirements. In the case of Yule v. State (1914), 16 Ariz. 134, 141 P. 570, cited by appellant, a specific statute was involved; hence, the principle of that case is not here applicable.

We therefore turn to the constitutional requirements-for a speedy trial contained in the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section- 10, Article' I of the Ohio Constitution, upon which appellant relies, in the absence of specific statutory requirements.

In State v. Bound (1975), 43 Ohio App. 2d 44, 47, the court states:

“Since there has been no statutory violation the burden is upon defendant to demonstrate that his constitutional right to a speedy trial has been denied. In passing upon that question the trial court must take into consideration the four factors of length of delay, reason for delay, assertion of the right, and resulting prejudice. Barker v. Wingo (1972) , 407 U. S. 514. It is not essential that the defendant affirmatively demonstrate prejudice. Moore v. Arizona (1973) , 414 U. S. 25. None of the factors is a necessary condition to the finding of a deprivation of the right.
*245 ‘Rather, they are related factors and must be considered together with such other circumstances as may be relevant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
360 N.E.2d 735, 49 Ohio App. 2d 241, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 286, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5818, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gettys-ohioctapp-1976.