Com. v. Meadius

• Decision Date: 29 March 2005
• Citation: 870 A.2d 802,582 Pa. 174
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. David MEADIUS, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

870 A.2d 802

582 Pa. 174

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. David MEADIUS, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 2, 2004.

Decided March 29, 2005.

Scott Bruce Rudolf, Esq., Pittsburgh, for David Meadius.

Michael Wayne Streily, Esq., Pittsburgh, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

BEFORE: CAPPY, C.J., and CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN and BAER, JJ.

OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

We allowed appeal in this matter to determine whether a criminal defendant's rule-based entitlement to a prompt trial was infringed when the Commonwealth filed a criminal complaint, withdrew that complaint, filed a second complaint listing identical charges, and then failed to bring the defendant to trial within one year of the first (but not the second) filing.

On January 16, 2001, the Commonwealth filed a criminal complaint charging Appellant, David Meadius, with, inter alia, forgery and insurance fraud. The charges stemmed from allegations that Appellant had obtained an insurance policy using the identity of his deceased father, and then filed a false auto-theft claim with the insurance company. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for February 8, 2001, but that hearing was continued at the Commonwealth's request because the prosecuting attorney was scheduled to attend a continuing legal education (CLE) class that day. The hearing was rescheduled for March 8, 2001, but it had to be rescheduled a second time because a Commonwealth witness failed to appear. Over Appellant's objection, the hearing was postponed until March 22, 2001. On that date, however, the prosecution was again unprepared to proceed due to the absence of two essential Commonwealth witnesses, including the insurance company's special investigator, who failed to attend because his wife had recently given birth. Unwilling to grant another continuance, the district justice stated that he would dismiss the case if the prosecution did not withdraw the charges. Consequently, the Commonwealth withdrew the complaint.

At the conclusion of the March 22 proceeding, the prosecuting attorney instructed Allegheny County Detective Paul Coropal to speak with the absent witnesses and confirm their availability to testify at a future preliminary hearing, as the Commonwealth intended to re-file the same charges against Appellant. Accordingly, the detective contacted the witnesses, who assured him that they would attend the next hearing. Having obtained such assurances, Detective Coropal filed a new complaint on March 27, 2001, charging Appellant with the same offenses included in the January 16 complaint. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 12, 2001. On that date, everyone appeared, including all of the Commonwealth's witnesses. Appellant waived the actual hearing and consented to be bound over to court in exchange for a substantial bail reduction. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 541. On September 20, 2001, the Commonwealth filed a second criminal information against Appellant containing the same charges as the original complaint, and Appellant was formally arraigned six days later. Thereafter, the case was listed for trial on February 4, 2002, more than one year after the initial complaint was filed on January 16, 2001.

On January 30, 2002, Appellant moved to dismiss the charges with prejudice pursuant to Pennsylvania's prompt trial rule, Pa.R.Crim.P. 600, claiming that the Commonwealth had violated his rights by failing to bring him to trial within one year of the filing of the initial complaint.¹ The Commonwealth opposed the motion, arguing that, for Rule 600 purposes, the one-year period commenced with the filing of the second complaint on March 27, 2001. The common pleas court convened a hearing at which it inquired into the procedural background of the case and the reasons for the multiple delays, taking testimony from both Detective Coropal and the prosecuting attorney. Thereafter, the court granted Appellant's motion and issued an opinion in which it found that the Commonwealth had failed to act with due diligence in bringing Appellant to trial within 365 days of the filing of the first complaint. Thus, the court determined that the Commonwealth was not entitled to the benefit of the second filing date, as the delays in question were solely due to its unjustified failure to comply with the applicable procedural rules. See Trial Court op. at 6-7.

In reaching its disposition, the trial court rejected the Commonwealth's argument that the case is controlled by this Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Whiting, 509 Pa. 20, 500 A.2d 806 (1985). In Whiting, the district magistrate granted the Commonwealth's motion for dismissal at the preliminary hearing. The Commonwealth filed a second complaint almost a year later. This Court calculated the time period from the date of the second filing. The trial court here distinguished Whiting by observing that that matter involved dismissal by an impartial magistrate, not withdrawal of charges by executive action. It found applicable instead the two-pronged test of Commonwealth v. Sires, 284 Pa.Super. 50, 51, 424 A.2d 1386, 1387 (1981), under which the limitations period starts with the second filing only if: (1) the first complaint was properly dismissed by a competent judicial authority; and (2) the record does not reveal any prosecutorial attempt to circumvent or evade the rule's mandate. Presently, the trial court determined that neither prong was satisfied, as the charges were withdrawn, not dismissed, and furthermore, the record indicated prosecutorial circumvention inasmuch as the serial filing occurred due to the Commonwealth's being unprepared to proceed on three separate occasions.

The Superior Court reversed in a memorandum opinion. It read Whiting more broadly than the trial court, noting that the initial complaint in Whiting was dismissed on the Commonwealth's motion without independent review by the district magistrate, thus prompting this Court to deem it "a voluntary withdrawal of the prosecution by the Commonwealth." Whiting, 509 Pa. at 22,500 A.2d at 807. Therefore, the Superior Court concluded that the trial court had erred by distinguishing Whiting on the basis that the present charges against Appellant were withdrawn rather than dismissed. The Superior Court also found that the prosecution had not attempted to circumvent Rule 600 by withdrawing the first complaint and filing the second, because the latter complaint was filed nine months before the one-year anniversary of the former, and hence, it would be unreasonable to assume that the prosecution undertook these actions with the intention of delaying trial beyond the one-year period.

The parties do not dispute that Rule 600(G) applies to the present case.² That rule states, in relevant part:

(G) For defendants on bail after the expiration of 365 days, at any time before trial, the defendant or the defendant's attorney may apply to the court for an order dismissing the charges with prejudice on the ground that this rule has been violated.... If the court, upon hearing, shall determine that the Commonwealth exercised due diligence and that the circumstances occasioning the postponement were beyond the control of the Commonwealth, the motion to dismiss shall be denied and the case shall be listed for trial on a date certain. If, on any successive listing of the case, the Commonwealth is not prepared to proceed to trial on the date fixed, the court shall determine whether the Commonwealth exercised due diligence in attempting to be prepared to proceed to trial. If, at any time, it is determined that the Commonwealth did not exercise due diligence, the court shall dismiss the charges and discharge the defendant....

Pa.R.Crim.P. 600(G).

It is apparent from the above that a trial court must grant a Rule 600(G) motion to dismiss unless it finds that the Commonwealth has exercised due diligence and that the circumstances occasioning the postponement were beyond its control. Furthermore, a reviewing court will only disturb a trial court's ruling on such a motion if it finds an abuse of discretion. The appellate court's scope of review is limited to the findings of the trial court and the evidence on the record of the Rule 600 hearing, viewed in the light most favorable to the prevailing party. See Commonwealth v. Hill, 558 Pa. 238, 244, 736 A.2d 578, 581 (1999); Commonwealth v. Edwards, 528 Pa. 103, 105, 595 A.2d 52, 53 (1991).

While Rule 600(G) may appear to embrace a fairly straightforward standard for matters in which the relevant charges have only been brought a single time, the proper mode of analyzing these factors has been less evident where identical charges have been filed on two occasions. In particular, the need to determine whether the run date should begin with the first or second filing has caused some courts to discern within the rule's explicit requirement of prosecutorial due diligence an implicit proscription against acting with evasive intent, that is, with an object to circumvent the rule's limitation period. Thus, as noted, the Superior Court has developed a two-pronged test for use in such cases, under which the run date is calculated from the second filing only if the first complaint was properly dismissed by a competent judicial or magisterial authority, and the Commonwealth's actions precipitating dismissal were undertaken without any intent to evade the rule's mandate. See Sires, 284 Pa.Super. at 51, 424 A.2d at 1387 (citing Commonwealth v. Mumich, 239 Pa.Super. 209, 212, 361 A.2d 359, 361 (1976)). The Sires rule was referenced by this Court in Commonwealth v. Simms, 509 Pa. 11, 500 A.2d 801 (1985), in which the perpetrator was initially charged with aggravated assault, but the victim later died, converting the offense into a criminal homicide. The Simms court appeared to endorse this two-part standard for some serial-filing situations, but deemed it inapplicable where (as there) subsequent events operate to change...