State v. Montgomery

419 N.W.2d 316, 142 Wis. 2d 707, 1987 Wisc. App. LEXIS 4390
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedDecember 23, 1987
DocketNo. 87-0491-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 419 N.W.2d 316 (State v. Montgomery) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Montgomery, 419 N.W.2d 316, 142 Wis. 2d 707, 1987 Wisc. App. LEXIS 4390 (Wis. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

SUNDBY, J.

Terrance Montgomery appeals from an order denying his motion to dismiss a criminal proceeding. He argues that the state’s failure to initiate proceedings for an offense he allegedly committed while a juvenile until after he turned eighteen was due to negligence or to a manipulative intent to avoid juvenile court jurisdiction.

We conclude that we erred when we previously remanded this case for a hearing. Since the parties had stipulated that the delay in prosecution was due to prosecutorial negligence and the trial court accepted the stipulation, no hearing was necessary. We conclude that Montgomery has a constitutional right to be heard on the issue of waiver of juvenile court jurisdiction over him but that neither the adult criminal court nor the juvenile court now has jurisdiction to hold such a hearing. We therefore reverse and remand with directions to grant Montgomery’s motion to dismiss.

HH

On October 29 and 30, 1983, Montgomery, another juvenile and two adult males allegedly sexually [709]*709assaulted, falsely imprisoned and kidnapped T.W. T.W. reported the incident on December 1, 1983, at which time she named Montgomery as one of her assailants. The other three males were arrested on December 7,1983. The other juvenile was waived into adult criminal court.

Montgomery became eighteen years of age on December 21,1983. He was not arrested until January 3,1984. He moved to dismiss the action on the ground that the state negligently failed to act with due dispatch to commence the action in juvenile court, or delayed the prosecution intentionally to avoid the juvenile justice system.

The court found that the state had not consciously delayed prosecution to avoid juvenile court jurisdiction. After this finding was made, the state stipulated that the delay in prosecution was the result of prosecutorial negligence. The court accepted the stipulation.1

On Montgomery’s first appeal, we reversed and remanded for a hearing, holding that the trial court should have determined whether the state had acted with due dispatch in bringing charges. On remand, the court correctly refused to be bound by the earlier [710]*710stipulation of negligence since we had ordered that a hearing be held. It concluded that there was no manipulative intent to delay prosecution, no negligent failure to bring the charge promptly, and the state had acted with reasonable dispatch. It denied the motion to dismiss. We granted Montgomery’s petition for leave to appeal from this nonfinal order.

II.

The first issue is whether a showing of prosecuto-rial negligence requires dismissal of the charges. State v. Becker, 74 Wis. 2d 675, 677, 247 N.W.2d 495, 496 (1976), held that before an adult could be tried for an offense committed before he or she became eighteen years of age, if no juvenile proceedings had been instituted, the state was required to show at a "due-process hearing” before the adult criminal court that the prosecution was not manipulatively delayed to avoid the juvenile justice system. In State v. Avery, 80 Wis. 2d 305, 259 N.W.2d 63 (1977), a defendant was arrested on her eighteenth birthday for an offense which was allegedly committed while she was seventeen. The state relied on Becker in arguing that there had been no intentional delay in charging the defendant. Avery at 309, 259 N.W.2d at 65.

The Avery court stated:

If the state, without prejudice to its investigation, could have commenced proceedings in this case earlier than March 11, it may well be that the defendant was prejudiced by the state’s failure to do so. Even if there was no manipulative intent, a negligent failure to bring the charge promptly would have deprived the defendant of her opportunity to oppose a waiver of juvenile jurisdiction. Therefore, this case must be remanded with direc[711]*711tions to hold an evidentiary due-process hearing for the purpose of determining whether, in bringing the charge against the defendant, the prosecutor acted with due dispatch after the investigation was concluded.

Avery, 80 Wis. 2d at 310-11, 259 N.W.2d at 65 (emphasis added).

We held In Matter of D.V., 100 Wis. 2d 363, 368, 302 N.W.2d 64, 66-67 (Ct. App. 1981), "[o]ur supreme court in State v. Avery, [supra], expanded the requirement of such a due process hearing to a negligent failure of the prosecutor to promptly bring the criminal charge even if there was no manipulative intent to avoid juvenile court jurisdiction.” Bendler v. Percy, 481 F. Supp. 813, 814 (E.D. Wis. 1979), has interpreted Avery similarly. We conclude that under Avery, a negligent failure to bring a charge promptly which deprives a defendant of the opportunity to oppose a waiver of juvenile jurisdiction warrants dismissal of criminal charges in adult court. Regardless of our opinion of the correctness of Avery, we are bound by supreme court precedent. State v. Lossman, 118 Wis. 2d 526, 533, 348 N.W.2d 159, 163 (1984).

HH HH HH

We erred in remanding for a hearing in the first appeal. The state is bound by its stipulation that its failure to prosecute Montgomery before he became eighteen was the result of prosecutorial negligence. The stipulation was made in court, recorded by the reporter and approved by the judge. Secs. 807.05, 972.11(1), Stats. We may reconsider our prior ruling in [712]*712a case where '"cogent, substantial, and proper reasons exist. [I]t is within the power of the courts to disregard the rule of 'law of the case’ in the interests of justice.’” State v. Brady, 130 Wis. 2d 443, 447, 388 N.W.2d. 151, 153 (1986), quoting McGovern v. Eckhart, 200 Wis. 64, 75, 78, 227 N.W. 300, 304, 305 (1929). We conclude that it would be manifestly unfair to ignore the stipulation now because we erred in our earlier decision by failing to recognize that the stipulation was dispositive. We therefore give effect to the stipulation that there was prosecutorial negligence, rather than to the trial court’s conclusion that there was not. In doing so, however, we emphasize that the trial court did not err in holding a hearing since that is what we ordered, albeit erroneously.

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The state argues that dismissal is unwarranted unless Montgomery can establish that the delay caused actual prejudice. It argues that Montgomery was not prejudiced by the delay since the record shows he would have been waived into adult court if he had been charged as a juvenile. Alternatively, the state contends we should remand for a finding as to whether Montgomery would have been waived.

A.

We first consider the state’s argument that Montgomery would have been waived into adult court. We note preliminarily that this argument is pure speculation. However, more importantly, Montgomery has a constitutional right to be heard on the issue before he is waived into adult court. "[T]here is no place in our [713]*713system of law for reaching a result [waiver of juvenile court jurisdiction] of such tremendous consequences without ceremony — without hearing, without effective assistance of counsel, without a statement of reasons.” Kent v.

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Related

State v. Montgomery
436 N.W.2d 303 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
419 N.W.2d 316, 142 Wis. 2d 707, 1987 Wisc. App. LEXIS 4390, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-montgomery-wisctapp-1987.