State v. Jones, No. 62137

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
• Writing for the Court: Considered by REYNOLDSON; LARSON
• Citation: 281 N.W.2d 13
• Decision Date: 27 June 1979
• Docket Number: No. 62137
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Richard J. JONES, Appellant.

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281 N.W.2d 13 STATE of Iowa, Appellee,
v.
Richard J. JONES, Appellant. No. 62137. Supreme Court of Iowa. June 27, 1979.
Rehearing Denied July 20, 1979.

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Morris C. Hurd of Hurd & Donahue and Daniel D. Williamson, Ida Grove, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Faison T. Sessoms, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C. J., and UHLENHOPP, McCORMICK, McGIVERIN and LARSON, JJ.

LARSON, Justice.

This defendant appeals from a conviction of attempting to break and enter in violation of § 708.10, The Code 1977, claiming that (1) the trial court was without authority to hold court outside the courthouse and by so doing denied him his right to a public trial; (2) he was denied his right to speedy trial under § 795.2, The Code 1977; and (3) his motion for directed verdict based upon alleged insufficiency of the evidence was

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erroneously overruled. We affirm the trial court.

I. Site of trial. On July 20, 1977, the state fire marshall informed the board of supervisors of Ida County that the courthouse there was unsafe. The board was advised that unless the building was brought up to code standards it would have to be vacated. On October 31, 1977, it was agreed that if the top floor of the building, which included the district court, was vacated, the remaining areas could remain open. Thereafter, James P. Kelley, Chief Judge of the judicial district, designated a room in the basement of the Ida Grove post office as the temporary courtroom.

The room in question is 16 by 30 feet in size. A diagram of it is attached. Defendant objected to holding the proceedings in that room, commencing with his written objections filed on the date of his arraignment and at later stages of the proceedings. These objections were, in substance, that the room lacked adequate size to accommodate court personnel, litigants, veniremen and the general public, that it lacked windows and proper ventilation, lacked proper dignity and "decorum" and was itself a fire hazard because it had only one access door. The trial court overruled defendant's objections.

Two separate issues are raised by defendant in objecting to the place of trial. First, did the court have authority to hold court outside of the courthouse? Second, did holding the trial in such a small room deprive defendant of his right to a public trial under United States Constitution amendment VI and Iowa Constitution, article I, section 10? The State contends the defendant failed to introduce any evidence (other than a diagram which was attached to his written objection) to support his claim of inadequacy of the substitute courtroom and therefore failed to establish the factual basis for his objections. However, the facts concerning the physical layout of the room, and the events leading up to its designation by the chief judge, have not been disputed by the State. We conclude, for the reasons following, that the defendant is not entitled to a reversal on these grounds.

Section 602.5, The Code 1977, provided:

Courts must be held at the places in each county, as designated by the chief judge of the judicial district, except for the determination of actions, special proceedings, and other matters not requiring a jury, when they may be held at some other place in the district with the consent of the parties.

Section 602.5 replaced an earlier statute, section 604.9, The Code 1971, which had provided that:

Courts must be held At the places provided by law, except for the determination of actions, special proceedings, and other matters not requiring a jury, when they may, by consent of the parties therein, be held at some other place. (Emphasis added.)

Defendant contends the "place provided by law" is the courthouse, that this is the gist of present § 602.5 despite its lack of such language, and that if a courthouse is in existence in a county, trials must be held there; only if there is no courthouse are the board of supervisors and district court authorized to designate a different place for trials. See § 602.6, The Code. He argues that the chief judge, under the new provision giving him authority to designate places for trial, still did not have discretion to hold them "wherever his whim and fancy might direct."

We need not, however, determine the perimeters of the chief judge's discretion under § 602.5 to designate a place of trial, nor whether he has any authority under it to designate another place for trial when a useable courthouse is available.

Despite defendant's contentions that the courthouse was in existence and even that it had a "fine and suitable courtroom," the facts were that it was deemed to be a fire hazard and that use of the courtroom area had, in effect, been forbidden. An order by the fire marshall vacating the entire

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courthouse was avoided only by an agreement by which the top floor would not be used. For the purpose of holding trials, Ida County did not have an available courthouse at the time of the trial in this case. Section 602.6, The Code, provides:

When there is no courthouse at the place where the courts are to be held, its sessions shall be at such suitable place as the board of supervisors provides, but if no such place is provided, the court may direct the sheriff to procure one at the expense of the county.

The board did designate another place to hold the trial, and the chief judge, for the court, implemented it by his order. We find authority for these actions to be adequately provided by statute. Cases cited by the appellant on this point are distinguishable. Funk v. Carroll County, 96 Iowa 158, 64 N.W. 768 (1895), for example, held it improper to take the testimony of a witness in the evening in a private home rather than in the courthouse....