Commonwealth v. Barbour
| Decision Date | 18 July 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 13 WAP 2017,13 WAP 2017 |
| Citation | 189 A.3d 944 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Darel BARBOUR, Appellant |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Joshua Harris Camson, Esq., for Barbour, Darel, Appellant.
Jerome Anthony Moschetta, Esq., for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee.
OPINION
In Commonwealth v. Steltz , 522 Pa. 233, 560 A.2d 1390 (1989), this Court held that a criminal defendant's failure to appear at a trial scheduled within the time period provided by the speedy trial guarantee of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure1 constitutes a waiver of that defendant's right to seek a remedy under that rule. Today, we consider whether the Steltz waiver rule applies to a defendant who absented himself from an untimely trial—one that violated Rule 600 before the defendant failed to appear. The Superior Court determined that the Steltz rule applies without regard to the timeliness of the trial, and accordingly reversed the order of the Washington County Court of Common Pleas granting Darel Barbour relief under Rule 600. We conclude that the Steltz rule is inapplicable. Consequently, we reverse the order of the Superior Court.
By the terms of Rule 600, the Commonwealth must bring a defendant to trial within 365 days from the date upon which a written criminal complaint is filed. Pa.R.Crim.P. 600(A)(2)(a). However, the Rule 600 run date may be adjusted pursuant to the computational directives set forth in Subsection (C) of the Rule. For purposes of the Rule 600 computation, "periods of delay at any stage of the proceedings caused by the Commonwealth when the Commonwealth has failed to exercise due diligence shall be included in the computation of the time within which trial must commence." Id. 600(C)(1). "Any other periods of delay," including those caused by the defendant, "shall be excluded from the computation." Id. When considering a Rule 600 motion, the court must identify each period of delay and attribute it to the responsible party, then adjust the 365-day tally to arrive at the latest date upon which the Commonwealth may try the defendant. Absent a demonstration of due diligence, establishing that the Commonwealth has done "everything reasonable within its power to guarantee that [the] trial begins on time," Commonwealth v. Matis , 551 Pa. 220, 710 A.2d 12, 17 (1998), the Commonwealth's failure to bring the defendant to trial before the expiration of the Rule 600 time period constitutes grounds for dismissal of the charges with prejudice. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 600(D)(1).
The particulars of the Rule 600 computation in the instant case are not in dispute. Nonetheless, some factual background is required in order to provide context to the dispositive inquiry. Darel Barbour originally was scheduled for a trial on October 18, 2004, on two consolidated criminal cases, which were commenced by criminal complaints filed on August 4, 2003 and August 20, 2003, respectively. Barbour did not appear for his trial, and, due to his absence, the trial court issued bench warrants for his arrest. Those warrants remained outstanding for nearly a decade, until Barbour was arrested for an unrelated criminal offense on September 8, 2014. Following that arrest, Barbour's older cases were scheduled for trial on October 20, 2014. However, on October 3, 2014, Barbour moved to dismiss both cases under Rule 600, contending that his original trial date of October 18, 2004—the date upon which he failed to appear—was scheduled in violation of the rule.
The trial court held a hearing on Barbour's motion on December 29, 2014. In support of its position that Barbour's October 18, 2004, trial date complied with Rule 600, the Commonwealth presented the testimony of Assistant District Attorney Josh Carroll, who was the prosecutor assigned to Barbour's cases. ADA Carroll explained that, in 2004, trial scheduling in Washington County was largely an informal process. Oftentimes, ADA Carroll testified, defendants were provided no written notice of when their appearance was required, and no formal court orders were prepared or placed on the docket. Instead, defendants generally were given oral notice of court proceedings, and, Notes of Testimony, Rule 600 Hearing ("N.T."), 12/29/2014, at 15.
Due to the informality of this process and the lack of detailed recordkeeping, evidence of the procedural history of Barbour's cases was sparse. The official docket reflected the dates of Barbour's preliminary hearings and arraignments, but offered little insight into the purpose and outcome of several later proceedings. It was clear that, following a hearing on March 5, 2004, Barbour was granted a nominal bail and released from pre-trial incarceration. Several months later, on September 14, 2004, the court issued a bench warrant due to Barbour's failure to appear for an unspecified proceeding. However, because Barbour was not given sufficient notice that his appearance was required, the court vacated that warrant three days later. The order vacating the bench warrant stated that Barbour and his counsel were expected to be prepared to proceed to trial during the October 2004 trial term. This was the first clear reference to a trial date in the record.
The period of time following Barbour's nominal bail hearing was a subject of contention at the December 2014 hearing. ADA Carroll testified that, following Barbour's release on bail in March 2004, he "would have" scheduled the cases for the next available trial term, in April 2004. N.T., 12/29/2014, at 20. However, the official docket contained no reference to any criminal proceeding scheduled during the month of April. The court questioned ADA Carroll about the sequence of events in April:
N.T., 12/29/2014, at 23-24. ADA Carroll also suggested that Barbour's trial was scheduled for September 2004, but conceded that "there is nothing in the docket" to corroborate his assertion. Id. at 22.
The trial court ultimately granted Barbour's Rule 600 motion and dismissed both cases with prejudice. After accounting for the periods of delay excluded from the computation, the court determined that the Rule 600 run dates for Barbour's cases were August 18, 2004, and September 1, 2004, respectively. Barbour's trial date of October 18, 2004, indisputably lay beyond either of those dates. Although ADA Carroll asserted that he scheduled Barbour's trial sometime before October 18, 2004, the trial court rejected this testimony, finding that "[t]here is absolutely nothing in the official docket that would indicate a trial for either case was ever scheduled before that date." Trial Ct. Op., 4/2/2015, at 18. The court gave little weight to ADA Carroll's suggestions that he "would have" scheduled Barbour's trial at some earlier date, explaining that, "[s]imply put, this [c]ourt is not concerned with what ‘would’ have happened, or ‘may’ have happened; the [c]ourt is only concerned with what did happen." Id. (emphasis omitted).
The court further concluded that the Commonwealth offered no justifiable excuse for its failure to schedule Barbour's trial in a timely manner, and, thus, failed to establish that it acted with due diligence in attempting to bring Barbour to trial. There was no evidence of administrative error or any other delay that was occasioned by some circumstance beyond the Commonwealth's control. "In this matter," the court reasoned, "it is clear beyond a preponderance of the evidence that the Commonwealth's outstanding negligence in failing to account for the time that had passed since the filing of the criminal complaints is the sole impetus behind the Rule 600 violations." Id. at 20.
Finally, the trial court considered the Commonwealth's argument that to grant Barbour relief under Rule 600 would be contrary to the "spirit of the law" and would encourage "procedural gamesmanship" by unduly rewarding Barbour's failure to appear. Id. at 22-23. The court disagreed, reasoning that Barbour's failure to appear at trial was not the cause of the Rule 600 violations. The court explained that, "[b]ecause the Rule 600 violations ... occurred before [Barbour] had absconded, the Commonwealth's argument regarding ‘procedural gamesmanship’ is totally misplaced." Id. at 22. In the trial court's view, Barbour was deprived of a speedy trial not because of the nearly ten years' delay caused by his absence, but rather due to the Commonwealth's earlier failure to put forth a reasonable effort to bring the cases to trial within the limits of Rule 600. The court concluded that, in light of the important rights at stake, and considering "the inexcusable failure of the Commonwealth to keep track of the time that had elapsed in these matters," the court could...
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