City of Billings v. Bruce

• Decision Date: 29 July 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-183,97-183
• Parties: , 1998 MT 186 CITY OF BILLINGS, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Rodney BRUCE, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Montana Supreme Court

Page 866

965 P.2d 866

290 Mont. 148, 1998 MT 186

CITY OF BILLINGS, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Rodney BRUCE, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 97-183.

Supreme Court of Montana.

Submitted on Briefs January 15, 1998.

Decided July 29, 1998.

Matthew J. Wald, Miles City, for Defendant and Appellant.

Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General; Patricia J. Jordan, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Craig C. Hensel, Deputy City Attorney, Billings, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

TRIEWEILER, Justice.

¶1 Rodney Bruce appealed to the District Court for the Thirteenth Judicial District in Yellowstone County from a misdemeanor conviction in the City Court for the City of Billings for the offense of stalking. He moved to dismiss the charges based on a violation of his right to speedy trial in both the City Court and District Court, and based on a violation of his due process rights. The District Court denied the motions. Bruce pled guilty and reserved his right to file this appeal from the denial of his motions. We reverse the District Court's order.

¶2 Bruce raises three issues on appeal:

¶3 1. Was Bruce denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial in the District Court?

¶4 2. Was Bruce denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial in the City Court?

¶5 3. Did the document which charged Bruce in the City Court violate his constitutional right to due process because it failed to provide adequate notice?

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

¶6 On May 19, 1994, Rodney Bruce was charged in the City Court for the City of Billings with the misdemeanor offense of stalking, in violation of § 45-5-220(1)(a) and (b), MCA. The complaint alleged that Bruce committed the offense during the period from June 1993 through May 1994. He was arraigned on May 30, 1994, and a trial in City Court was set for September 30, 1994.

¶7 At the omnibus hearing on September 20, 1994, Bruce claimed the stalking statute was unconstitutional and filed a motion to dismiss. A few days later, he requested a continuance and, together with the motion and a request to interview more witnesses, he filed a waiver of his right to a speedy trial. Trial was reset for February 8, 1995, and a hearing on the constitutionality of the statute was set for January 17, 1995, but reset for January 24, 1995, due to a conflict with the schedule of Bruce's counsel. However, on January 17, 1995, his counsel moved to withdraw. The City Court granted the motion and reset the trial for July 12, 1995.

¶8 New counsel took over for Bruce in May 1995, and at the pretrial conference on July 3, 1995, he moved to dismiss based on the 407-day delay since the initial arraignment. Without a response from the City, the City Court denied the motion, based on Bruce's waiver in September 1994. Bruce was convicted of the crime charged following a three-day jury trial which had commenced on July 12. On July 18, 1995, Bruce appealed the verdict and the denial of his motions to the District Court.

¶9 On August 23, 1995, District Judge G. Todd Baugh set a date for the omnibus hearing and for trial. The next day, however, Bruce moved to substitute judges, and Judge Robert Holmstrom took over the case. On ¶10 At the omnibus hearing on October 12, the parties indicated their intent to file motions. In response, the District Court ordered that all motions be filed by November 1, 1995, and that the response briefs be filed by November 13; in the event that an evidentiary hearing on the motions was necessary, it was scheduled for November 16. Bruce moved to dismiss for denial of due process and for denial of his right to speedy trial. The City moved to amend its complaint to extend the period covered by the charge through August 1994, and on November 3 the District Court granted that motion.

August 28, the City sought substitution of Judge Holmstrom, and the matter was assigned to Judge Russell Fagg. On September 15, Judge Fagg disqualified himself, and on September 18, the case was assigned to Judge Maurice Colberg. On September 25, the District Court set the omnibus hearing for October 12, and the trial date for November 13, 1995.

¶11 On November 13, 1995, the City also moved to continue the evidentiary hearing. It based its motion on the fact that Bruce had subpoenaed a number of individuals from the City Court whose schedules could not be rearranged on short notice. A week later, it filed its response to Bruce's motion to dismiss.

¶12 No further action in the matter took place until May 6, 1996, nearly six months later, when the District Court ordered the parties to appear by telephone conference on May 20, 1996. It appears that counsel for each party had been discussing a separate matter, and counsel for Bruce asked whether the City had dismissed the case. The conversation prompted the City to contact the District Court and schedule the telephone conference.

¶13 On May 23, 1996, the District Court ordered that a hearing be set for June 12, 1996, and that all motions be filed by May 24; all responsive briefs were to be filed by May 31, 1996. On May 24, Bruce filed a motion to dismiss based solely on the denial of his right to speedy trial. In support of his motion, he alleged that all but one of the 353 days of delay that had occurred in the District Court by that time should be attributed to the City. In response to the motion, on May 30, the City moved for a continuance of an additional week so that it could submit its response to the motion to dismiss; the District Court granted the City leave to file its brief by June 7. However, on June 6, the City requested a second continuance, until June 14, by which to respond. It eventually filed its response on June 13.

¶14 On June 10, 1996, the parties filed a stipulation to continue the hearing set for June 12, 1996. The parties agreed in the stipulation that any delay between June 12 and the date of the hearing would not be held against either party for purposes of the speedy trial motion. On June 24, the District Court granted the parties' request and reset the hearing for August 22, 1996. On the day of the hearing, the City moved for a continuance due to the unavailability of a City Court Judge who had been subpoenaed by Bruce. The District Court granted the continuance, and on September 30, 1996, reset the hearing at which to consider the motions for October 16, 1996.

¶15 At the hearing on October 16, Bruce's former counsel testified regarding the problems he encountered with Bruce's defense as a result of the delay, including the unavailability of two witnesses and the impaired memory of those who were still available. Bruce did not appear at the hearing, but he submitted an affidavit in which he stated that the delay caused him anxiety, resulted in the unavailability of certain witnesses, and hindered his defense.

¶16 On November 1, the District Court set a trial date for December 2, 1996. On November 27, 1996, the District Court denied Bruce's motions to dismiss. The parties agreed to waive a jury trial, and the District Court rescheduled the trial for December 9, 1996. On December 9, Bruce pled guilty and reserved his right to appeal the denial of his motions.

DISCUSSION

¶17 Was Bruce denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial in the District Court?

¶18 Whether a defendant has been denied a speedy trial constitutes a question of constitutional law. See State v. Small (1996), 279 Mont. 113, 116, 926 P.2d 1376, 1378; see also State v. Bullock (1995), 272 Mont. 361, 368, 901 P.2d 61, 66. We review a district court's conclusions of law to determine whether its interpretation of the law is correct. See Carbon County v. Union Reserve Coal Co. (1995), 271 Mont. 459, 469, 898 P.2d 680, 686; see also Kreger v. Francis (1995), 271 Mont. 444, 447, 898 P.2d 672, 674; Steer, Inc. v. Department of Revenue (1990), 245 Mont. 470, 474-75, 803 P.2d 601, 603.

¶19 Since 1972, we have reviewed claims that a speedy trial was denied in violation of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Article II, Section 24, of the Montana Constitution, based on the general guidelines established by the United States Supreme Court in Barker v. Wingo(1972), 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101. See, e.g., Bullock, 272 Mont. at 368-69, 901 P.2d at 67; State v. Sunford (1990), 244 Mont. 411, 416, 796 P.2d 1084, 1087; Fitzpatrick v. Crist (1974), 165 Mont. 382, 388, 528 P.2d 1322, 1325. The Barker test requires that we consider: (1) the length of the delay; (2) the reason for the delay; (3) the assertion of the right to a speedy trial by the defendant; and (4) the prejudice to the defense. See Barker, 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d at 117. Prejudice to the defense can be established based on any of the following factors: (1) pretrial incarceration; (2) anxiety and concern to the defendant; and (3) impairment of the defense. See Barker, 407 U.S. at 532, 92 S.Ct. at 2193, 33 L.Ed.2d at 118. Of these concerns, the Supreme Court stated the following about their order of importance:

Of these, the most serious is the last, because the inability of a defendant adequately to prepare his case skews the fairness of the entire system. If witnesses die or disappear during a delay, the prejudice is obvious. There is also prejudice if defense witnesses are unable to recall accurately events of the distant past. Loss of memory, however, is not always reflected in the record because what has been forgotten can rarely be shown.

Barker, 407 U.S. at 532, 92 S.Ct. at 2193, 33 L.Ed.2d at 118.

¶20 However, the four factors established by Barker are necessarily general guidelines to be applied on a case-by-case basis to the unique circumstances of each case. "In sum, these factors have no talismanic qualities; courts must still engage in a difficult and sensitive balancing process." Barker, 407 U.S. at 533, 92 S.Ct. at 2193, 33 L.Ed.2d at 118. Perhaps for that reason, commentators have noted the seemingly inconsistent results from Barker's...