State v. LaMar
Decision Date | 18 December 1974 |
Docket Number | No. 57098,57098 |
Parties | STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Larry Lee LaMAR, Appellant. |
Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Robert A. Wynn, Des Moines, for appellant.
Richard C. Turner, Atty. Gen., Nancy J. Shimanek, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Ray A. Fenton, County Atty., for appellee.
Submitted to MOORE, C.J., and LeGRAND, REES, HARRIS and McCORMICK, JJ.
Defendant appeals from conviction and sentence for the crime of robbery. His sole assigned error is that he was not tried within the sixty-day period mandated by Code section 795.2. As pertinent here, it provides: 'If a defendant indicted for a public offense, whose trial has not been postponed upon his application, be not brought to trial within sixty days after the indictment is found, the court must order it to be dismissed, unless good cause to the contrary be shown. * * *.'
On November 1, 1973 defendant, Larry Lee LaMar, with his counsel, entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of robbery with aggravation. Judge Missildine at that time set trial for December 5, 1973. It later came to the court's attention a judicial conference had been called by this court for December 5, 6 and 7, 1973. Its purpose was for continued judicial education. Each member of the judiciary was directed to attend. Therefore the trial date was changed to December 12.
Trial was not held on December 12. On January 10, 1974 defendant's counsel filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Code section 795.2. An evidentiary hearing thereon was held before Judge Critelli on January 11. On January 18, he filed detailed findings and conclusions and an order overruling defendant's motion. The court found the State had proved good cause based primarily on plea bargaining.
On January 22, 1974 the trial jury returned a verdict of guilty of the lesser included offense of robbery. Subsequently he was sentenced to serve a term not to exceed ten years in the men's reformatory.
The hearing on defendant's motion to dismiss included the testimony of defendant, Nicholas Krpan, one of defendant's defense counsel and Vincent Hanrahan, first assistant Polk County Attorney. It is undisputed plea bargaining started during the latter part of November and continued until some time after December 14. Hanrahan had suggested a plea of guilty to the crime charged with the statutory sentence of not to exceed twenty-five years. Further, he offered not to prosecute defendant on a pending burglary charge. Defense counsel reported the suggestion to defendant for his consideration. Defendant during several conferences with counsel expressed the view he should be permitted to plead guilty to robbery and thus receive a ten-year sentence. Hanrahan testified that based on his conferences with defense counsel he believed defendant would plead guilty. He believed so to the extent an order was drawn for the plea and twenty-five year indeterminate sentence.
Cross-examination of Hanrahan by defense counsel Owens included:
'
Mr. Hanrahan also testified that when he learned a guilty plea would not be entered, the trial assignment was full and he had defendant's case assigned for trial on the first available date, January 21, 1974.
Judge Critelli's January 18 findings and conclusions included: 'The court is of the opinion that the plaintiff, State of Iowa, has presented good and sufficient cause for the delay in the trial of this matter, and for those reasons the defendant's Motion to Dismiss should be overruled.'
I. Our review here is not de novo. To be entitled to reversal, defendant must show trial court abused its discretion in finding good cause existed for delay of trial. State v. Nelson, Iowa, 222 N.W.2d 445, filed October 16, 1974.
In Maher v. Brown, 225 Iowa 341, 343, 344, 280 N.W. 553, 554, we quote from Davison v. Garfield, 219 Iowa 1258, 1262, 257 N.W. 432, 434:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
State v. Brandt
...his failure to be present at arraignment. Our review of a ruling on motion to dismiss for delay in trial is not de novo. State v. Lamar, 224 N.W.2d 252, 254 (Iowa 1974); State v. LaPlant, 244 N.W.2d at This court has announced that the grant or denial of a motion to dismiss does not rest in......
-
State v. McNeal
...case in which we found plea negotiations to constitute good cause for a trial delay past the speedy trial deadline. See State v. LaMar , 224 N.W.2d 252, 254 (Iowa 1974). In LaMar , the parties engaged in plea bargaining for several weeks around the scheduled time of trial. Id. at 253. The p......
-
State v. Dickerson
...to postpone a decision concerning preliminary hearings and to the parties' common interest in plea negotiations. Cf. State v. LaMar, 224 N.W.2d 252, 254 (Iowa 1974) (plea negotiations can constitute good cause for delay in trial). In these circumstances, the trial court did not abuse its di......
-
State v. King, 56913
...before scheduled trial date. Having caused that delay, defendant can not rely on it to invoke the provisions of section 795.2. State v. LaMar, Iowa, 224 N.W.2d 252, filed December 18, 1974; State v. Shockey, Iowa, 214 N.W.2d 146, 151; McCandless v. District Court, 245 Iowa 599, 606, 607, 61......