Moore v. State, S93A0882

• Decision Date: 01 November 1993
• Docket Number: No. S93A0882,S93A0882
• Citation: 436 S.E.2d 201,263 Ga. 586
• Parties: MOORE v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 201

436 S.E.2d 201

263 Ga. 586

MOORE v. The STATE.

No. S93A0882.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 1, 1993.

Reconsideration Denied Dec. 2, 1993.

Stephen B. Bright, Atlanta, Althea L. Buafo, Macon, Michael Mears, Barry J. Fisher, Atlanta, for Moore.

Tommy K. Floyd, Dist. Atty., Jill Banks, Asst. Dist. Atty., McDonough, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for State.

HUNSTEIN, Justice.

This case is here on interlocutory appeal from the trial court's denial of Moore's speedy-trial challenge to being resentenced.

Moore was convicted in 1977 for the murder of Teresa Carol Allen and sentenced to death. We affirmed the conviction and sentence in Moore v. State, 240 Ga. 807, 243 S.E.2d 1 (1978). Nine years later, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals set aside the death sentence. Moore v. Kemp, 809 F.2d 702 (11th Cir.1987) (en banc). The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case to the District Court for further hearing concerning the guilt phase of the original trial. Eventually, the District Court issued its ruling on remand. The 11th Circuit denied a certificate of probable cause. On March 20, 1989, the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari. Because of uncertainty on the part of the State as to whether a "mandate" would issue from the District Court after these federal appeals were exhausted, nothing more occurred in this case until November 16, 1990, when the State filed in the District Court a motion for an extension of time to resentence Moore. The grant of this motion was appealed by Moore, who argued to the 11th Circuit that the State was barred from subjecting him to another capital resentencing trial because the State had not tried him within the 180-day period provided for in the order granting the writ of habeas corpus as to sentence. In 1992, the 11th Circuit affirmed the grant of the extension of time. Moore v. Zant, 972 F.2d 318 (11th Cir.1992). Meanwhile, Moore filed in the superior court a motion to bar a death-penalty sentencing retrial on the ground that his constitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated. (This constitutional issue was not addressed by the 11th Circuit. Ibid.) The trial court withheld ruling on this issue until after the 11th Circuit ruled on the 180-day issue. Then, on February 2, 1993, the trial court denied Moore's motion.

1. Any delay between the original March 20, 1989 conclusion of the federal proceedings in this case and the November 16, 1990 recommencement of state proceedings pales in comparison with the total delay which has occurred since the original sentencing proceedings. It is difficult to see how Moore has been prejudiced by the relatively slight additional delay about which he now complains. At no time during the relevant interval did Moore demand a prompt sentencing. Moreover, when the State...