Crawford v. State, 49S00-9406-CR-594
| Citation | 669 N.E.2d 141 |
| Decision Date | 28 June 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 49S00-9406-CR-594,49S00-9406-CR-594 |
| Parties | Charles L. CRAWFORD, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below). |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Belle T. Choate, Indianapolis, for Appellant.
Pamela Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Cynthia L. Ploughe, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, for Appellee.
Defendant, Charles L. Crawford, was convicted in February, 1994, of the November, 1964, murder of an Indianapolis cab driver. Finding that no violation of defendant's constitutional or statutory rights occurred as a result of the delay in bringing him to trial, and for the other reasons discussed below, we affirm his conviction and sentence.
On the evening of February 3, 1965, police officers in Texarkana, Texas, noticed an older model Pontiac with a broken back window. Glass fragments could be seen outside the car. The officers had never seen the car in Texarkana before and noticed that the car had a wired-on Indiana license plate. The wired-on license plate raised the officers' suspicion that the car may have been stolen. When the officers looked inside the car, they noticed a considerable amount of blood. Officer Gary Collvins was ordered to watch the car and check the area in an attempt to locate the driver.
About two hours later Officer Collvins noticed defendant walking in an alley. Officer Collvins testified that he thought defendant was the driver of the car because defendant was wearing heavy clothing and boots more suitable for Indiana's winter weather than the Texas winter climate.
Officer Collvins approached defendant and asked him if the Pontiac was his car. Defendant initially stated that the car was not his. When asked for identification, defendant produced a driver's license with the name Pridemore. Officer Collvins noticed that the license had no photograph and that the descriptive information on it did not match defendant's appearance. The officer again asked defendant if the Pontiac belonged to him. Realizing that the police would eventually find out the truth, defendant admitted that the car belonged to him and that he had been driving it. The officer then placed defendant under arrest for an investigation pursuant to Texas law.
Officer Collvins frisked defendant and found a twenty-two caliber pistol concealed in defendant's waistband. Defendant was then taken to the police station. A later search of the Pontiac revealed a twenty-two caliber Omega pistol.
Defendant later agreed to provide a statement to the police. Defendant was advised of his right to remain silent and his right to an attorney. He was informed that if he could not afford an attorney, one would be appointed for him. Defendant was also advised that any statement he made would be used in court. During his statement, defendant confessed to killing a cab driver in Indianapolis in late November of the previous year. Defendant read and signed his statement after it was typed.
Defendant was later placed in the custody of law enforcement authorities in Laclede County, Missouri, for his admitted involvement in a murder there. Defendant informed Missouri authorities that he had used a twenty-two caliber Omega pistol to kill a cab driver in Indianapolis.
The Laclede County authorities notified the Marion County Sheriff's Department. Detective Robert Edwards traveled from Indianapolis to Missouri on February 5, 1965, to take a statement from Defendant. After being advised of his rights and acknowledging that he understood them, defendant described how he had murdered Louis Briggs. Briggs had been discovered slumped in the driver's seat of a taxi in Indianapolis on November 27, 1964, with four gunshot wounds to the head. Defendant stated that he intended to shoot Briggs and that he took approximately thirteen dollars from Briggs before he shot him in the head.
The police secured a warrant on February 4, 1965, for defendant's arrest for the murder of Briggs, and another warrant on February 5, 1965, for the murder of another Indianapolis resident, Ambrose Best. These warrants were sent by the Marion County Sheriff to Missouri officials on February 11, 1965, accompanied by a letter which said, in part, "We wish to have these warrants to serve as detainers, until such time Crawford is released to us for trial."
No further action appears of record until 1973, when the State lodged a detainer against defendant for the murder of Best pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (I.A.D.). 1 By this time, defendant was serving a life sentence in the Missouri State Penitentiary. Shortly thereafter, defendant requested final disposition of the Ambrose Best murder charge by filing his I.A.D. Inmate's Notice of Place of Imprisonment.
On June 1, 1990, the Marion County prosecutor commenced the present action, for the murder of Louis Briggs, by filing an information charging defendant with First Degree Murder. On June 4, 1990, the Marion County Sheriff's Department wrote to the Missouri State Penitentiary advising Missouri authorities of a murder charge against defendant that was unrelated to the murder charge that had been lodged against defendant in 1973. On June 15, 1990, the State of Indiana lodged a detainer against defendant pursuant to the I.A.D. regarding the Louis Briggs murder.
On January 5, 1992, defendant filed a motion to dismiss the immediate charge. On May 24, 1993, defendant, while still incarcerated in Missouri, requested final disposition of his case by filing his I.A.D. Inmate's Notice of Placement of Imprisonment. On August 18, 1993, an initial hearing was held and trial was scheduled for November 15, 1993. On October 29, 1993, the State filed its motion in opposition to defendant's motion to dismiss. The motion to dismiss was denied following a hearing on November 5, 1993.
On November 9, 1993, defendant moved for a continuance. The trial was rescheduled for January 3, 1994. On November 19, 1993, the State moved for a continuance, and the trial was rescheduled for February 14, 1994. Defendant waived his right to a jury trial and his bench trial commenced on February 14, 1994. Defendant was convicted of First Degree Murder 2 and sentenced to life imprisonment on March 11, 1994.
Defendant contends that the trial court erroneously denied his motion to dismiss because his rights to a speedy trial as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment and by Article 1, § 12, of the Indiana Constitution were violated by the State of Indiana's failure to bring him to trial until almost thirty years after the murder charged occurred. The right to a speedy trial is fundamental to our system of justice and is guaranteed to an accused facing criminal charges in Indiana courts by the Sixth Amendment through the Fourteenth Amendment and by the Indiana Constitution. U.S. Const. amend. VI; U.S. Const. amend XIV, § 1; Ind. Const. art I, § 12. 3 Indiana applies the federal speedy trial analysis to claims made under our state constitution. Fortson v. State, 269 Ind. 161, 168, 379 N.E.2d 147, 152 (1978).
It has long been the law that a defendant's speedy trial rights do not attach until the filing of a formal indictment or information or until actual restraints are imposed by an arrest and holding to answer a criminal charge. Burress v. State, 173 Ind.App. 286, 288, 363 N.E.2d 1036, 1038 (1977) (quoting United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 321, n. 13, 92 S.Ct. 455, 464, n. 13, 30 L.Ed.2d 468). Because a prosecution for murder may be commenced at any time in Indiana, Ind.Code § 35-42-4-2(b), the fact that the State filed the information at issue twenty-five years after the Louis Briggs murder does not necessarily mean that defendant's speedy trial rights were violated. Defendant's speedy trial rights attached on June 1, 1990, when the State of Indiana filed the information that charged him with First Degree Murder and he became an accused for purposes of speedy trial analysis. Burress, 173 Ind.App. at 288, 363 N.E.2d 1036. Accordingly, the time period we will consider in determining whether there was a violation of defendant's speedy trial rights is that period from June 1, 1990, to the date of his trial on February 14, 1994.
When a defendant's speedy trial rights have been implicated, we undertake a balancing test mandated by Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), in which the conduct of both the State and the defendant are weighed. We consider such factors as the length of the delay, reasons for the delay, the defendant's assertion of his right, and prejudice to the defendant. Id., 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192; Fortson v. State, 269 Ind. at 168, 379 N.E.2d at 152. Citing Ballentine v. State, 480 N.E.2d 957 (Ind.1985) (), the State concedes that the three year, seven month and fourteen day period between defendant's accusation and his trial was sufficient delay to trigger the application of the Barker v. Wingo analysis. We agree and therefore inquire into the reasons for the delay.
Three days after the State filed the information, it wrote to the Missouri authorities and requested to be notified when defendant was released from incarceration in that state. Approximately two weeks later, the State lodged a detainer pursuant to the I.A.D. against defendant for the Louis Briggs murder. It was then incumbent upon defendant to serve the State with a written notice requesting final disposition of the charge. Ind.Code § 35-33-10-4 (1993). Defendant took no measures to have such a request delivered to the State until May 24, 1993. Thus, during the time period from June 15, 1990, to May 24, 1993, defendant waived any right to assert delay in the disposition of his...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Sweeney v. State
...criminal charge against [ ] defendant is filed, or from the date of his arrest on such charge, whichever is later." See Crawford v. State, 669 N.E.2d 141, 145 (Ind.1996) ("defendant's speedy trial rights do not attach until the filing of a formal indictment or information or until actual re......
-
Wallace v. State
...is the same as under the federal Constitution." Id. In support the Court of Appeals cited two opinions from this Court, Crawford v. State, 669 N.E.2d 141 (Ind.1996) and State ex rel. Dorton v. Circuit Court of Elkhart County, 274 Ind. 373, 412 N.E.2d 72 (1980). See Spencer at 1042. We obser......
-
Ramon v. State
...of some defense or lesser punishment that was available at the time of the crime.'" Stroud, 809 N.E.2d at 288 (quoting Crawford v. State, 669 N.E.2d 141, 150 (Ind.1996)). The fundamental inquiry is whether the retroactive law alters a defendant's substantial right. See Weaver v. Graham, 450......
-
Stroud v. State
...offense, or deprive[s] [a] defendant of some defense or lesser punishment that was available at the time of the crime." Crawford v. State, 669 N.E.2d 141, 150 (Ind.1996). Indiana's amended death penalty statute is not an ex post facto law as applied to Defendant. It does not explicitly fall......
-
THE WAITING GAME: HOW PREINDICTMENT DELAY THREATENS DUE PROCESS AND FAIR TRIALS.
...Murphy, 584 P.2d 1236, 1239 (Idaho 1978)). Illinois Illinois v. Lawson, 367 N.E.2d 1244, 1249 (Ill. 1977). Indiana Crawford v. Indiana, 669 N.E.2d 141, 147 (Ind. 1996). But see Marshal v. Indiana, 832 N.E.2d 615, 626 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005) (holding that a defendant must establish actual and s......