State v. Thieshen

379 N.E.2d 622, 55 Ohio App. 2d 99, 9 Ohio Op. 3d 259, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7059
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 28, 1977
Docket9-77-12
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 379 N.E.2d 622 (State v. Thieshen) 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. Thieshen, 379 N.E.2d 622, 55 Ohio App. 2d 99, 9 Ohio Op. 3d 259, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7059 (Ohio Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Guernsey, J.

This is an appeal by defendant Walter Eugene Thieshen from a judgment of conviction and sentence in the Court of Common Pleas of Marion County. He alleges error of the trial court (1) in overruling his motion to dismiss for the reason that he was denied a speedy trial under the provisions of ft. C. 2945.71(C)(2) and (D) and in not allowing him to testify concerning his contacts with the police after he made his confession.

Defendant was arrested on December 14, 1976, on the charge of robbery for which he was thereafter tried, and remained in either the Marion City Jail or the Marion County Jail continuously thereafter until his jury trial which started on April 26, 1977, the 133rd day after his arrest. In between these dates the following chronological events occurred:

a. On December 16, 1976, defendant waived preliminary hearing and bond was set at $2,000.

*100 h. On January 13, 1977, an indictment was filed indicting him for the offense for which he was originally arrested and also indicting him for an offense of aggravated riot occurring while he was in jail pursuant to the arrest.

c. On January 13, 1977, the sheriff served on defendant a warrant of arrest on the indictment.

d. On January 18, 1977, one Donald H. Taube was appointed as defendant’s counsel.

e. At some point between January 13, 1977 and January 21, 1977, as appears from the trial court’s docket entries, the defendant appeared in open court and acknowledged receipt of the indictment; a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf; and bond was fixed in the amount of $2,000 on the robbery charge and $10,000 on the aggravated riot charge.

f. On January 21, 1977, defense counsel filed a motion to sever the counts of the indictment. This motion was sustained orally and the counts were not tried together on April 26, 1977,

g. On February 9, 1977, trial of the robbery case was assigned for March 15, 1977, the 91st day after his original arrest. This assignment does not appear in our record but is asserted and agreed to in the appellate briefs.

h. On February 22, 1977, defense counsel moved to suppress his statements.

i. On March 17, 1977, the court filed its journal entry as follows:

“The within case was set for trial as the third case on March 15, 1977. The first ease went out of assignment as the defendant entered a plea of guilty. The second case * * * went to trial and the within ease therefore was continued until 9:00 A. M. on April 19, 1977, and record of said assignment as the first case on April 19, 1977 [the 126th day after the original arrest] is hereby made.”

j. On April 8, 1977, appointed counsel Taube filed his motion to withdraw as defense counsel as defendant “does not wish to be represented by” him.

k. On April 12, 1977, Taube was permitted to with *101 draw as counsel and Jonathan Williamson was appointed to succeed him as such.

l. On April 12, 1977, defense counsel filed a motion for discovery.

m. On April 14,1977, defense counsel filed a motion for dismissal of the robbery charge “in view of the fact that the Defendant has been incarcerated in the Marion County Jail for over ninety (90) days and has not been to trial, as required by Secs. 2945.71(C) and 2945.71(D) of the Ohio Revised Code.”

n. On April 15, 1977 (it being agreed in the briefs that that court had orally indicated in chambers that he would overrule the motion to dismiss), defense counsel filed a motion to continue the jury trial from April 19th to April 26,1977.

o. On April 25, 1977, the court filed its journal entries overruling the motion to suppress evidence, expressing the state’s compliance with the motion for discovery, and overruling the motion to dismiss, finding as to the latter (1) “that this matter was set within ninety (90) days and was continued by the Court for the reason that the Court docket was crowded at that time,” and (2) “that the defendant herein requested another attorney to represent him while this matter was pending.”

At first blush it appears that the trial court scheduled the trial one day late for proper compliance with R. C. 1945.71 and then, without fully expressing the necessity of doing so, continued trial for an additional 33 days. However this quick and erroneous conclusion is based on a 90 day limitation which courts commonly speak of as being required by R. C. 2945.71(C). 90 days is not, however, the actual limitation contained in the statute but is the product of applying to the actual limitation of 270 days the triple-count provision of subdivision (D) of that statute. The actual provisions of R. C. 2945.71(C) and (D) are:

“(C) A person against whom a charge of felony is pending:
(1) Shall be accorded a preliminary hearing within fifteen days after his arrest;
*102 “(2) Shall be brought to trial within two hundred seventy days after his arrest.
“(D) For purposes of computing time under divisions (A), (B), and (C) of this section, each day during which the accused is held in jail in lieu of bail on the pending charge shall be counted as three days.”

The Supreme Court has had occasion to interpret the application of this statute in a number of decisions, notably State v. Pudlock (1975), 44 Ohio St. 2d 104; State v. Walker (1976), 46 Ohio St. 2d 157; State v. MacDonald (1976), 48 Ohio St. 2d 66; State v. Lee (1976), 48 Ohio St. 2d 208; and State v. Singer (1977), 50 Ohio St. 2d 103. In the MacDonald case Justice Paul Brown cited with approval the earlier cases of State v. Gray (1964), 1 Ohio St. 2d 21; State, ex rel. Hodges, v. Coller (1969), 19 Ohio St. 2d 164; and State v. Fairbanks (1972), 32 Ohio St. 2d 34, construing the speedy-trial statutes as they existed prior to 1974, as settling Ohio case law that the defendant’s detention in jail must be solely because of the pending charge, and the Court held accordingly in the first paragraph of the syllabus of the MacDonald case. In his opinion concurred in by the other members of the Court, Justice Brown said:

“The present speedy-trial statutes are the kind of state action which Barker v. Wingo, supra [407 U. S. 514], contemplated. In a long line of cases, we have imposed upon the state and the trial courts the mandatory duty of complying with these statutes. We do so pursuant to our conclusion that the General Assembly has attempted a rational definition of the trial court’s obligation to guarantee a speedy trial. We accept this direction in those circumstances in which the statutory language specifically applies.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
379 N.E.2d 622, 55 Ohio App. 2d 99, 9 Ohio Op. 3d 259, 1977 Ohio App. LEXIS 7059, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thieshen-ohioctapp-1977.