State v. Ray
| Decision Date | 23 June 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-500.,01-500. |
| Citation | 71 P.3d 1247,2003 MT 171 |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Christopher James RAY, Defendant and Appellant. |
Kristina Guest, Appellate Defender Office, Helena, Montana, For Appellant.
Mike McGrath, Montana Attorney General, Jim Wheelis, Assistant Montana Attorney General, Helena, Montana; George H. Corn, Ravalli County Attorney, Hamilton, Montana, For Respondent.
¶ 1 Defendant Christopher Ray (Ray) was convicted in the Twenty-First Judicial District Court, Ravalli County, of one count of burglary and two counts of aggravated burglary. Ray appeals his convictions, alleging his right to a speedy trial was violated and that he was entitled to a directed verdict on the aggravated burglary counts. We affirm in part and reverse in part and remand for proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
¶ 2 We address the following issues on appeal:
¶ 3 1. Was Ray denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial in the District Court?
¶ 4 2. Under § 45-6-204(2)(a), MCA, does the theft of a loaded gun qualify as "armed with a weapon" for purposes of elevating a burglary charge to aggravated burglary?
¶ 5 On February 4, 1999, two residents of Ravalli County reported that their respective houses had been burglarized. Items reported missing included one loaded firearm, several unloaded firearms, electronic equipment, coins, a camera, and various other items. The following week, two more burglaries were reported in the area. These two burglaries were of summer vacation homes, and the owners and police officers could not determine the exact date of the burglary. Items stolen from the vacation homes included, more firearms, a Ford Bronco, electronic equipment, tools, household items, and alcohol.
¶ 6 On February 9, 1999, the stolen Ford Bronco was found in Madison, Ohio. The Bronco contained possessions and firearms belonging to the owner of one of the houses that was reported burglarized on February 4, 1999. The police also found Ray's fingerprints inside the Bronco. An Oldsmobile Cutlass had been stolen in the area where the abandoned Bronco was found.
¶ 7 Four days later, on February 13, 1999, the stolen Oldsmobile Cutlass was found in Yonkers, New York. It contained firearms belonging to the owner of the other house that was burglarized on February 4, 1999. Another car, this time a Honda, had been stolen in the vicinity of where the Oldsmobile was found.
¶ 8 Finally, on February 13, 1999, Ray was discovered asleep in the stolen Honda in Polk County, Arkansas. After Ray was arrested, he told the officer about stealing guns and cars out of fear of the Mafia trying to kill him.
¶ 9 Ray was subsequently extradited to Montana and charged with three counts of burglary. The charges were later amended to add another count of burglary and then to change three of the counts to aggravated burglary. After lengthy delays but before trial, Ray moved for dismissal of the charges on the grounds that his speedy trial rights were violated. The District Court denied his motion, concluding that Ray was not prejudiced by the various delays. The charges were then tried before a jury. At conclusion of the State's evidence, Ray moved for a directed verdict on the aggravated burglary counts, asserting that the stolen firearms themselves did not qualify him as "armed" under aggravated burglary. The District Court denied the motion concluding that carrying or being in possession of any weapon was sufficient to meet the aggravated burglary statute.
¶ 10 After trial, the jury convicted Ray of one count of burglary and two counts of aggravated burglary and acquitted Ray on the other count of aggravated burglary. Ray appeals, alleging his speedy trial rights were violated and that the District Court should have granted his motion for a directed verdict regarding the aggravated burglary counts. Further facts and the procedural background regarding the speedy trial issue are discussed below.
¶ 11 1. Was Ray denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial in the District Court?
¶ 12 Whether a defendant has been denied a speedy trial constitutes a question of constitutional law. State v. Small (1996), 279 Mont. 113, 116, 926 P.2d 1376, 1378; see also State v. Bullock (1995), 272 Mont. 361, 368, 901 P.2d 61, 66
. We review a district court's conclusions of law to determine whether its interpretation of the law is correct. Carbon County v. Union Reserve Coal Co. (1995), 271 Mont. 459, 469, 898 P.2d 680, 686.
¶ 13 We review claims that a speedy trial was denied in violation of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and Article II, Section 24, of the Montana Constitution, based on the general guidelines established by the United States Supreme Court in Barker v. Wingo (1972), 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101. Under Barker, we must consider: (1) the length of the delay; (2) the reason for the delay; (3) the assertion of the right to a speedy trial by the defendant; and (4) the prejudice to the defense. Barker, 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d at 117.
¶ 14 Using the general guidelines established in Barker, this Court set forth Montana's procedure for addressing speedy trial claims in City of Billings v. Bruce, 1998 MT 186, 290 Mont. 148, 965 P.2d 866. As for the first Barker factor, length of the delay, in Bruce, we established 200 days as the necessary length of time to trigger further speedy trial analysis. Bruce, ¶ 55.
¶ 15 The second Barker factor, the reason for the delay, requires us to attribute delay to either the State or the defendant on a case-by-case basis. Bruce, ¶ 56.
¶ 16 Concerning the third Barker factor, whether the defendant's right to speedy trial has been timely asserted, we determined that if the right to speedy trial is invoked at any time prior to the commencement of trial, either by demanding a speedy trial, or by moving to dismiss for failure to provide a speedy trial, the third factor has been satisfied. Bruce, ¶ 57.
¶ 17 Finally, we determined that the fourth Barker factor, prejudice the delay caused to the defense, can be established based on any of the following factors: (1) pretrial incarceration; (2) anxiety and concern to the defendant; and (3) impairment of the defense. Bruce, ¶ 58. Regarding these factors, the Supreme Court stated:
Of these, the most serious is the last, because the inability of a defendant adequately to prepare his case skews the fairness of the entire system. If witnesses die or disappear during a delay, the prejudice is obvious. There is also prejudice if defense witnesses are unable to recall accurately events of the distant past. Loss of memory, however, is not always reflected in the record because what has been forgotten can rarely be shown.
Bruce, ¶ 19 (quoting Barker, 407 U.S. at 532, 92 S.Ct. at 2193, 33 L.Ed.2d at 118).
¶ 18 In the instant case, Ray was arrested in Arkansas on February 13, 1999. Over a month later, on March 23, 1999, the State filed a motion for leave to file an information. Ray appeared in District Court for the first time on March 24, 1999, to enter a not guilty plea.
¶ 19 On April 7, 1999, Ray appeared at an omnibus hearing and moved for a change of counsel. On April 21, 1999, Ray requested a competency evaluation. Based on results of the evaluation, the court determined Ray was fit to proceed at a status hearing on his case on July 14, 1999. As a result, an original trial date was set for November 8, 1999. On October 29, 1999, however, Ray and the prosecution supposedly reached a plea agreement. The supposed plea agreement was never signed and neither the prosecution nor Ray filed a motion to vacate the November 8, 1999 trial date. Consequently, the November 8, 1999 trial date passed.
¶ 20 Ray requested a second mental competency evaluation on November 24, 1999. On March 22, 2000, after a competency report was completed, the court found Ray competent to proceed. Rather than setting a new trial date, the court ordered another settlement conference. On April 28, 2000, a trial date of September 25, 2000, was finally set. Ray was convicted by a jury of one count of burglary and two counts of aggravated burglary.
¶ 21 As stated above, the first inquiry we must make under Barker and Bruce pertains to the length of the delay before Ray's trial. Whether the length of delay before Ray's trial is sufficient to trigger a speedy trial analysis is a threshold question. Bruce, ¶ 55. Assignment of blame to either the State or Ray is irrelevant for purposes of this inquiry. Bruce, ¶ 55. We established 200 days as the minimum length of time required to trigger further speedy trial analysis. Bruce, ¶ 55.
¶ 22 The State contends that for purposes of this speedy trial analysis, the clock should start running from March 24, 1999, the date the court granted the State's motion for leave to file an information. The State cites Bruce in support of this contention. In Bruce we wrote, "We will first consider the length of delay from the time charges are filed (or as in this case, the date on which the notice of appeal from the city court is filed) until the defendant's trial date for the purpose of determining whether there is a basis for conducting a speedy trial analysis." Bruce, ¶ 55. The facts of Bruce, however, are distinguishable from the facts here. Bruce was convicted in city court and appealed the verdict to the district court. Bruce alleged his speedy trial right was violated regarding his appeal, not his trial in city court; thus, we used the date on which Bruce filed his notice of appeal from the city court as the starting point for calculating delay.
¶ 23 The rule regarding when we begin calculating delay in a speedy trial analysis is stated more clearly in State v....
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