State v. Jensen

818 P.2d 551, 170 Utah Adv. Rep. 30, 1991 Utah LEXIS 134, 1991 WL 195806
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 30, 1991
Docket900350
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 818 P.2d 551 (State v. Jensen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jensen, 818 P.2d 551, 170 Utah Adv. Rep. 30, 1991 Utah LEXIS 134, 1991 WL 195806 (Utah 1991).

Opinion

STEWART, Justice:

Defendant Terry Robert Jensen appeals his convictions for aggravated robbery, a first degree felony, and for theft, a third degree felony. We affirm.

On the afternoon of May 26, 1984, Jensen entered Berry’s Western Wear in Cedar City, Utah, to collect a money order from the Western Union office located within the store. Because the money order had not yet arrived, Jensen entered the store every fifteen to twenty minutes throughout the afternoon until the order was transmitted at approximately 5:44 p.m. To receive payment, Jensen provided identification and signed a receipt. He then told the clerk that he was expecting an additional money order and persuaded the clerk to remain after closing so that he could receive it. At closing, however, Jensen reentered the store with a revolver and, point *552 ing the gun at the clerk, demanded money from the cash register.

Jensen then ordered the clerk into the restroom in the back of the store, where he tied her hands and feet with rope. After the clerk perceived that Jensen had left the store, she freed herself and opened the restroom door. Jensen saw her and forced her back into the restroom, where he again tied her hands and feet. He demanded that she stay in the restroom and tied the handle of the door to a filing cabinet. Assured that Jensen had left, the clerk again untied the ropes binding her and escaped from the restroom. After calling the police, she discovered that $120 in cash and over $500 in merchandise had been taken from the store.

The original arrest warrant was issued May 29, 1984, and Jensen was arrested based on that warrant in Wallace, Idaho, on June 2, 1984. Jensen challenged extradition to Utah. The trial judge gave Utah authorities 30 days to appear on the extradition matter or to have a governor’s warrant issued. The action was subsequently dismissed because Utah officials failed to appear, and Jensen was released.

Jensen was later arrested in Shoshone County, Idaho, on a charge of burglary and spent seven months in jail. During that time, no attempt was made to act on the Utah charges. After his release, Jensen was arrested in Sandpoint, Idaho, and again charged with burglary. He was found guilty of the burglary and sentenced to serve two concurrent fifteen-year sentences in the custody of the Idaho State Board of Corrections.

While the charges in Sandpoint were pending, Jensen was served with a governor’s warrant from Utah. In 1985, he filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in Idaho state court, requesting that the Utah charges be quashed. The Idaho judge denied the petition on the basis of mootness. 1 On July 19, 1985, Jensen received a detain-er notification from the Idaho prison administrator informing him that the State of Utah had lodged a detainer against him. In September 1988, Jensen filed a motion to dismiss the Utah charges in the Utah court. That motion was denied, and Jensen did not appeal from the denial. Jensen was extradited to Utah on his release from the Idaho State Prison on December 28, 1989.

On March 28, 1990, Jensen was tried and convicted by a jury in Utah for aggravated robbery and theft. On appeal, he contends that he was denied his right to a speedy trial, that the eyewitness identification of him at trial should have been suppressed, and that the trial court erred when it refused to give an instruction on the lesser included offense of robbery.

I.

Jensen first contends that the long delay between the crime and the trial violated his right under the state and federal constitutions to a speedy trial. 2 The right to a speedy trial is of great value. The likelihood of accurately determining the truth or falsity of the charges is enhanced by a prompt trial. Also, the cloud of a pending prosecution on the life of a defendant militates as a matter of basic fairness in favor of prompt disposition.

Nevertheless, defendants, for one reason or another, often find it expedient to forego an early trial. This Court has held that although “the right to a speedy trial is of paramount importance in a criminal case, a defendant who initiates delay is not in a position to demand adherence to a statutory time limit.” State v. Stillings, 709 P.2d 348, 349 (Utah 1985); see also State v. Knill, 656 P.2d 1026, 1028-29 (Utah 1982); State v. Trujillo, 656 P.2d 403, 404-05 *553 (Utah 1982). In State v. Velasquez, 641 P.2d 115 (Utah 1982), the defendant argued that the trial court lacked jurisdiction because he was not tried within 90 days of his request for a final disposition as required by the statutory provision then in effect, Utah Code Ann. § 77-65-l(a) (1953). The trial took place 119 days after his request; however, a delay of at least 42 days was due to the defendant’s own motion for a continuance. See id. at 116. We held that the 42-day postponement could not be included within the 90-day period prescribed by section 77-65-l(a). The purpose behind the statute, to protect the right to a speedy trial, no longer existed when the prisoner himself acted to delay the trial. Reasonable interpretation thus required that the 90-day disposition period be extended by the amount of time during which the defendant created the delay. See id. See also United States v. Loud Hawk, 474 U.S. 302, 316-17, 106 S.Ct. 648, 656-67, 88 L.Ed.2d 640 (1986) (delay caused by defendant’s interlocutory appeals did not weigh in support of defendant’s speedy trial claim).

In the present case, Jensen initiated the multi-year delay in the proceedings by challenging extradition. Except for his challenge to the extradition proceedings, he could have returned to Utah in 1984 and had a speedy trial. Moreover, in denying Jensen’s motion to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial, the trial court noted that Jensen did not request disposition under the interstate agreement on detainers. Even when Jensen was in prison in Idaho, he could have invoked the provisions of the agreement, Utah Code Ann. § 77-29-5 art. Ill (1990), to require Utah authorities to bring him to trial in 180 days. But Jensen chose not to invoke the procedures of the agreement. In none of the filings which Jensen made prior to his arrival in Utah in December 1989 did he assert his right to a speedy trial. Indeed, he rigorously tried to avoid trial in Utah. Therefore, it is wholly incongruous for Jensen to now claim that Utah has violated his right to a speedy trial. See, e.g., Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 528-32, 92 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
818 P.2d 551, 170 Utah Adv. Rep. 30, 1991 Utah LEXIS 134, 1991 WL 195806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jensen-utah-1991.