State v. DeMasi, s. 78-35-C

• Decision Date: 29 August 1980
• Docket Number: Nos. 78-35-C,s. 78-35-C
• Citation: 419 A.2d 285
• Parties: STATE v. Ralph DeMASI. STATE v. Lawrence M. LANOUE. A., 79-36-C.A.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 285

419 A.2d 285

STATE v. Ralph DeMASI.

STATE v. Lawrence M. LANOUE.

Nos. 78-35-C.A., 79-36-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Aug. 29, 1980.

Dennis J. Roberts, II, Atty. Gen., Forrest L. Avila, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for plaintiff.

John Tramonti, Jr., Providence, Griffin & Higgins, Kirk Y. Griffin, Geline W. Williams, Boston, Mass., for defendants.

OPINION

BEVILACQUA, Chief Justice.

These are consolidated appeals from the defendants' convictions for breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit larceny, in violation of G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-8-4, and with stealing goods valued in excess of $500, in violation of G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-41-1.

At approximately 4:10 a. m. on October 8, 1974, Officer Thomas Calabro of the Pawtucket police department was on routine patrol in an industrial section of the city when he noticed a 1968 Mercury at the intersection of Industrial Highway and Division Street. He noticed that the rear end of the car was heavily weighted down and that as the car turned left onto Division Street and crossed over some railroad tracks, the back end scraped the truck causing sparks to fly. He also noticed that as the car turned the back seat passenger looked at the police vehicle. At that point Calabro decided to stop the car. Because he temporarily lost sight of the car, however, Calabro radioed to Officer Raymond Zwolenski, another officer in the area, that he wanted the car stopped. A short time later, both Calabro and Zwolenski regained sight of the Mercury. When they neared the vehicle, the officers turned on their flashing lights, indicating to the car to stop, and the driver pulled over. Calabro approached the vehicle on the passenger's side, Zwolenski on the driver's side. When he reached the stopped vehicle, Zowlenski asked the driver, defendant Lawrence M. Lanoue, for his operator's license and vehicle registration papers. Lanoue produced a valid Rhode Island driver's license and registration card. Calabro and Zwolenski also requested identification from the two passengers, defendant Ralph DeMasi and Edward Sitko. DeMasi identified himself as "Raymond Massey" and gave his date of birth but could produce no identification. Sitko presented a valid Massachusetts driver's license although on another name. In spite of what appeared to be proper identification, the officers decided to extend the detention. The officers radioed police headquarters and requested a National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computer check on the three names. After about five minutes, headquarters reported the existence of an outstanding arrest warrant for Lanoue in Massachusetts.

After receiving the results of the warrant check from headquarters, the officers sent for a cruiser to transport the handcuffed Lanoue to the station. When the cruiser arrived, one of its officers, Daniel Haynes, identified Ralph DeMasi. DeMasi, who had previously identified himself as "Massey," was also taken into custody, handcuffed, and escorted into the cruiser, apparently for giving false identification. Sitko, the other passenger, drove the Mercury to the station in the company of two police vehicles. Sometime later, at about 6 a. m., the Pawtucket police learned that during the night a burglary had occurred in the Regina Manufacturing Company, a manufacturer of jewelry. At about 9:30 a. m., a judicial magistrate issued a warrant to search the car based on an affidavit by Lt. Norman J. Moreau of the Pawtucket police detective division. When they pried open the locked trunk, the police discovered about 500 pounds of gold and silver jewelry findings later identified as part of 1,200 pounds stolen from the Regina Company earlier that morning.

Both defendants were indicted on April 4, 1975. ¹ Both filed motions to suppress evidence seized from the Mercury, and DeMasi filed motions to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial. ² Before DeMasi's trial in June 1977, his motions were heard and denied. He was convicted before a jury on June 15, 1977. The transcripts of DeMasi's hearings were incorporated into Lanoue's hearing on his motion to suppress. The trial justice denied the motion, which was heard on October 4, 1978, immediately prior to Lanoue's jury-waived trial at which he was also found guilty. Both defendants appealed, the appeals were consolidated, and exceptions to the rulings on the pretrial motions form the basis of the appeals.

I

Initially, we address DeMasi's argument that he was denied his right to a speedy trial guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and by art. I, sec. 10 of the Rhode Island constitution.

The test for determining whether an accused has been denied his right to a speedy trial was set forth in Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed 101 (1972), and has been applied by this court in a number of recent cases. See, e. g., State v. Delahunt, R.I., 401 A.2d 1261 (1979); State v. Roddy, R.I., 401 A.2d 23 (1979); State v. Crescenzo, 118 R.I. 662, 375 A.2d 933 (1977). Courts confronted with lack of speedy trial claims are to consider four factors:

1. The length of the delay

2. The reason for the delay

3. The defendant's assertion of his right to a speedy trial, and

4. The prejudice to the accused.

None of the four factors alone is "either a necessary or sufficient condition to the finding of a deprivation of the right of speedy trial. Rather, they are related factors and must be considered together with such other circumstances as may be relevant. In sum, these factors have no talismanic qualities; courts must still engage in a difficult and sensitive balancing process." Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. at 533, 92 S.Ct. at 2193, 33 L.Ed.2d at 118 (footnote omitted); see State v. Paquette, 117 R.I. 505, 509, 368 A.2d 566, 568 (1977).

1. Length of delay

DeMasi initially points out that thirty-two months elapsed between his arrest on October 8, 1974, and the beginning of his trial on June 13, 1977, and twenty-six months between the filing of the indictment on April 4, 1975, and the trial. A lengthy delay standing alone, however, is insufficient to establish that the right to a speedy trial has been violated. State v. Crapo, 112 R.I. 729, 734, 315 A.2d 437, 440 (1974). Nonetheless, we find a delay of twenty-six months between indictment and trial "presumptively prejudicial," a finding that triggers the necessity for an inquiry into the other three factors. See Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d at 117; State v. Delahunt, R.I., 401 A.2d at 1266; State v. Roddy, R.I., 401 A.2d at 30.

2. Reason for the delay

In Barker v. Wingo, supra, the Court set out general standards against which a trial court should consider and evaluate the proffered reasons for the delay:

"(D)ifferent weights should be assigned to different reasons. A deliberate attempt to delay the trial in order to hamper the defense should be weighted heavily against the government. A more neutral reason such as negligence or overcrowded courts should be weighted less heavily but nevertheless should be considered since the ultimate responsibility for such circumstances must rest with the government rather than with the defendant. Finally, a valid reason, such as a missing witness, should serve to justify appropriate delay." Id. 407 U.S. at 531, 92 S.Ct. at 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d at 117 (footnote omitted).

At the hearing on the first motion to dismiss for lack of speedy trial, held on March 2, 1977, the trial justice was informed that DeMasi was involved in five cases pending in the Superior Court, all initiated in 1975. ³ DeMasi was indicted in April 1975 on the charges concerning us here. For his alleged participation in the armed robbery of the Marquette Credit Union in Manville, Rhode Island, he was charged in May 1975 with, inter alia, conspiracy, armed robbery, and assault with intent to murder. In December 1975, he was charged by information with assault with intent to murder a fellow inmate at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI). And finally, on October 28, he was charged in two indictments in a multi-defendant conspiracy case of some complexity, which defense counsel conceded was "not going to be tried in this decade."

DeMasi does not deny that he had other business with the Attorney General's office; however, he argues that the other matters involved an amount of courtroom time insufficient to justify the delay: the Marquette Credit Union case involved only three days of evidentiary hearings in February 1976, and the ACI assault case in November 1976 required only "ten days trial time." Against this background, he also insists that from the time of the arrest, the instant case was, from an investigatory and preparatory viewpoint, "open and shut." Therefore, handling this case and the other matters could not justifiably have required such a delay.

The state indicated at the initial hearing that the Attorney General had assigned priority to DeMasi's cases based on the gravity of the offenses charged. This policy seems to us neither unjustified nor unreasonable. The state's position is that the other cases were more serious and complex and that any delay was occasioned not by the few days of court time required but by the investigation and preparation of these matters, a position that DeMasi does not directly challenge. Although the record leaves us in some doubt regarding precisely how much investigatory and preparatory activity the other three matters stirred up during the period under consideration, we presume that, because they admittedly involved serious and complex charges, they consumed a substantial amount of investigatory and preparatory time on the state's part.

The record also indicates that defendant must share some responsibility for the delay. At the hearing on the first motion defense counsel admitted to being unavailable for trial in Rhode Island for five months during the delay because of his...