State v. Kilpatrick

722 P.2d 692, 104 N.M. 441
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 19, 1986
Docket8039
StatusPublished
Cited by34 cases

This text of 722 P.2d 692 (State v. Kilpatrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico 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. Kilpatrick, 722 P.2d 692, 104 N.M. 441 (N.M. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

OPINION

DONNELLY, Judge.

Defendant appeals his conviction for aggravated assault with firearm enhancement. The single issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to dismiss the indictment because he was denied his right to a speedy trial. Another issue listed in the docketing statement, but not briefed, is abandoned. State v. Smith, 102 N.M. 512, 697 P.2d 512 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 102 N.M. 492, 697 P.2d 492 (1985). We reverse.

A prior opinion of this court affirming defendant’s conviction and rejecting defendant's claim of denial of a speedy trial was reversed by the supreme court in Kilpatrick v. State, 103 N.M. 52, 702 P.2d 997 (1985). The cause was remanded to this court to determine whether defendant was prejudiced, and otherwise unduly subjected to interferences and disruptions listed in United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 92 S.Ct. 455, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971), by the delay between his arrest and indictment so as to warrant dismissal of the charge against him.

Defendant was the owner of an apartment complex in Albuquerque. The charge against defendant arose out of a dispute between defendant and a tenant. Defendant denied assaulting the tenant. The tenant and her mother gave evidence to the contrary, asserting that defendant threatened the tenant with a handgun following an argument.

The alleged assault occurred on February 23, 1983. Defendant was arrested and booked into jail on the same day. He posted a $2,500 surety bond and then was released. Thereafter, nothing further occurred for ten months. In December 1983, defendant received a target letter notifying him that the case would be presented to a grand jury. A grand jury indictment was returned against defendant in January, 1984. Defendant moved to dismiss the indictment based upon irregularities in the grand jury proceedings. The district court granted the motion in February, 1984.

A second indictment was filed against defendant in March, 1984. Defendant again moved to dismiss the indictment alleging that he had been deprived of his right to a speedy trial and asserted that an important defense witness had been lost due to prosecution delay. At the hearing on this motion, defendant tendered an affidavit which indicated that Burt Bateman, a tenant who lived across from the complaining witness, was present when the altercation allegedly occurred and was a “witness to the fact that I did not point a gun at Ms. Sandoval or anyone else * * The affidavit also stated that after defendant’s arrest and release from jail on bond, he spoke to Bateman. Defendant alleged that Bate-man informed him that he had given a statement on defendant’s behalf to a police investigator who had visited him at the premises and that the statement did not implicate defendant in the alleged offense. In March or April, 1983, one or two months after the alleged assault, Mr. Bateman died.

At the hearing on the motion to dismiss for denial of a speedy trial, the prosecutor informed the trial court that following defendant’s arrest, the state obtained an arrest report and sought a supplemental report which was not received until March, 1983. No explanation was given by the state concerning the basis for delay in the prosecution of the case between the period of March and December, 1983. The trial court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss. Thereafter, trial was set by the court for June 11, 1984. However, the trial court granted a continuance to June 12, 1984, because of a scheduling conflict of the prosecution.

RIGHT TO SPEEDY TRIAL

Defendant challenges the denial of his right to a speedy trial and asserts that the eleven months which elapsed between his arrest and initial indictment constituted prejudicial preindictment delay. Defendant also cites as evidence of denial of his right to speedy trial, the fact that a delay of over fifteen months occurred between defendant’s initial arrest and the date of trial. Defendant’s assertion of denial of a speedy trial is grounded on the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and on Article II, Section 14, of the New Mexico Constitution.

In Kilpatrick v. State, our supreme court held that defendant herein, had made a sufficient showing of prejudice concerning his constitutional right to a speedy trial, so as to invoke the balancing factors enumerated in United States v. MacDonald, 456 U.S. 1, 102 S.Ct. 1497, 71 L.Ed.2d 696 (1982) and United States v. Manon, 404 U.S. 307, 92 S.Ct. 455, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971). Relying on MacDonald and Marion, the New Mexico Supreme Court stated that, because “defendant [Kilpatrick] posted a surety bond of $2500 on the day he was arrested, and lived under its ‘impairment of liberty’ and the cloud of ‘unresolved criminal charges’ for almost a year before the indictment was filed”, defendant’s right to a speedy trial was triggered. Id., 103 N.M. at 52-53, 702 P.2d at 997-98.

The underlying purpose of the right to a speedy trial is the orderly expedition of the criminal process. State v. Mascarenas, 84 N.M. 153, 500 P.2d 438 (Ct.App.1972). While inordinate delay between arrest, indictment and trial may impair the ability of an accused to present an effective defense, thereby violating due process rights, the speedy trial guarantee is directed principally toward the protection of other interests. United States v. Marion. The Court in MacDonald recognized the protected interests identified by the Court in Marion as follows:

The Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial is * * * not primarily intended to prevent prejudice to the defense caused by passage of time; that interest is protected primarily by the Due Process Clause and by statutes of limitations. The speedy trial guarantee is designed to minimize the possibility of lengthy incarceration prior to trial, to reduce the lesser, but nevertheless substantial, impairment of liberty imposed on an accused while released on bail, and to shorten the disruption of life caused by arrest and the presence of unresolved criminal charges.

MacDonald, 456 U.S. at 8, 102 S.Ct. at 1502.

In Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), the United States Supreme Court articulated the standard for analyzing whether a defendant was deprived the right to a speedy trial right and instructed that “any inquiry into a speedy trial claim necessitates a functional analysis of the right in the particular context of the case[.]” Id. at 522, 92 S.Ct. at 2188. In order to facilitate this case-by-case analysis, the Court articulated a four-pronged balancing test in which “the conduct of both the prosecution and the defendant are weighed.” Id. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192 (footnote omitted). The four prongs are: the length of the delay, the reason for the delay, the defendant’s assertion of the right, and the prejudice to the defendant.

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Bluebook (online)
722 P.2d 692, 104 N.M. 441, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kilpatrick-nmctapp-1986.