Germany v. State
| Citation | 999 P.2d 63 |
| Decision Date | 16 March 2000 |
| Docket Number | No. 99-78.,99-78. |
| Parties | Frankie GERMANY, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Representing Appellant: Sylvia Lee Hackl, State Public Defender; and Donna D. Domonkos, Appellate Counsel.
Representing Appellee: Gay Woodhouse, Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; and Robin Sessions Cooley, Senior Assistant Attorney General.
Before LEHMAN, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY, GOLDEN and HILL, JJ.
Appellant Frankie Germany appeals from the judgment and sentence entered by the trial court after a jury found him guilty of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.
We affirm.
Germany presents the following issues for our consideration:
In early October 1996, Germany and his ex-wife, Tamara Foster, traveled from Los Angeles, California, to Cheyenne in a rented car. Germany informed Foster that they were going to Cheyenne because "Wyoming owe[d] him." They arrived in Cheyenne on October 3, 1996, and checked into a motel under assumed names. Germany and Foster then drove around the city, looking for a jewelry store. They located Burri Jewelers, which was closed at the time. Germany got out of the car and looked into the store windows in the front and back of the building. Later that night, Germany and Foster drove from the jewelry store to the motel several times, searching for the best route between the two locations. They subsequently returned to their motel room and placed wire hangers through the tops of three pillowcases to make the pillowcases stand open.
In the early morning hours of October 4, 1996, Germany and Foster returned to Burri Jewelers and parked behind the building. Germany broke one of the store windows with a crowbar, and the couple crawled into the store through the broken window. Germany broke the jewelry display cases with the crowbar, and he and Foster scooped the jewelry into the pillowcases.
When Germany broke the store window, he activated an alarm which summoned law enforcement officers to the jewelry store. Germany and Foster were leaving the store when an officer arrived. Germany ran to their car, but Foster was tackled by the officer. Germany drove away in the car and, in the process, ran over Foster's knee.
Germany checked out of the motel room at approximately 4:00 a.m. on October 4, 1996. Foster was arrested, and she gave a statement to the police, implicating Germany in the burglary. Germany was arrested on December 10, 1997, and he was charged with aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary. The trial court held a jury trial on July 7, 1998, through July 10, 1998. Germany insisted that he was in Las Vegas, Nevada, when the burglary occurred and that Foster had wrongly accused him of the crimes. The jury found him not guilty of aggravated burglary but found him guilty of simple burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary. The trial judge entered a judgment consistent with the jury's verdict and sentenced Germany to the Wyoming State Penitentiary. Germany subsequently perfected his appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Germany contends that the trial court violated his right to have a speedy trial when it continued his trial to a date more than 120 days after the date of his arraignment. The state claims that the trial court complied with the requirements of W.R.Cr.P. 48. We agree with the state.
W.R.Cr.P. 48(b) protects a criminal defendant's constitutional right to receive a speedy trial. Newport v. State, 983 P.2d 1213, 1217 (Wyo.1999). W.R.Cr.P. 48(b) states in pertinent part:
The trial court arraigned Germany on January 13, 1998, and scheduled his trial to begin on March 9, 1998. The court made it clear to the parties, however, that the trial setting was stacked and Germany's trial was scheduled behind a number of other trials which were also set for that day. The order setting the trial specifically addressed the possibility that Germany's trial would not be held on March 9, 1998:
The prosecutor notified the trial court and the defense counsel on February 27, 1998, that Germany's trial would probably need to be rescheduled because other cases which were scheduled ahead of Germany's on March 9, 1998, were going to proceed to trial. The trial judge indicated that he and the attorneys needed to confer, in a timely fashion, about an alternate trial date.
On April 30, 1998, the trial court entered an order scheduling Germany's trial to begin on June 8, 1998. The defense counsel filed a motion to dismiss on May 13, 1998, stating that Germany's constitutional right to receive a speedy trial had been violated. The grounds for the motion to dismiss are somewhat obscure because the motion was primarily concerned with issues involving Germany's extradition from California and the delay in bringing him to Cheyenne to face the charges in this case. At a hearing on May 27, 1998, the defense counsel notified the trial court that he could not attend a trial on June 8, 1998. The trial court reset Germany's trial for July 7, 1998, and remarked:
There have been a number of previous trial settings in this matter which simply couldn't take place because there was not—it wasn't possible in view of the other matters facing the Court, and pursuant to the appropriate rule the matter was reset from time to time. But we are now at a point where I think we have to have an absolutely firm trial date, and from the Court's point of view, that will be the 7th of July.
Germany filed a pro se motion objecting to the trial court's decision to reset the trial date for July 7, 1998. The trial began, as scheduled, on July 7, 1998.
One hundred seventy-four days passed between Germany's arraignment and his trial. In order to determine whether W.R.Cr.P. 48(b) was violated, we must look at the reasons for the delay in bringing him to trial. The parties agree that the twenty-nine days between June 8 and July 7, 1998, must be excluded from the calculation of time under W.R.Cr.P. 48(b) because the continuance was granted pursuant to the defense attorney's request.
The trial court changed the trial date from March 9, 1998, to June 8, 1998, because other cases, which were scheduled ahead of Germany's case, were going to be tried on March 9, 1998. The first continuance was, therefore, "[r]equired in the due administration of justice" because of the crowded nature of the trial court's docket. W.R.Cr.P. 48(b)(4)(B)(iii); see also McDaniel v. State, 945 P.2d 1186, 1187 (Wyo.1997)
. The trial court's decision to grant the first continuance was appropriate, and the court complied with the time limitations set out in W.R.Cr.P. 48(b)(4) because Germany's trial was held within six months after his arraignment.
Germany also failed to make an adequate showing that he was prejudiced by the pretrial delays....
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