State v. Steeves

• Decision Date: 05 April 1978
• Citation: 383 A.2d 1379
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Richard STEEVES.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 1379

383 A.2d 1379

STATE of Maine v. Richard STEEVES.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

April 5, 1978.

Michael D. Seitzinger (orally), Charles K. Leadbetter, Asst. Attys. Gen., Augusta, James R. Erwin, Law Student, for plaintiff.

Daniel G. Lilley, Portland (orally), Wayne E. Murray, Somersworth, N. H., for defendant.

Before POMEROY, ARCHIBALD, DELAHANTY, GODFREY and NICHOLS, JJ.

NICHOLS, Justice.

On February 3, 1966, a grand jury in Kennebec County returned an indictment charging the defendant with the August, 1965, murder of Lorenzo Troyer. For reasons discussed below, he has never been brought to trial on that charge. This case comes here on report pursuant to Rule 37A(a), M.R.Cr.P., for our determination of whether the Defendant has been denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial and whether his motion to dismiss this indictment should be granted.

We remand to the Superior Court with directions to grant that motion.

From the record, ¹ it appears that Lorenzo Troyer died in an Augusta Hospital on August 15, 1965 after being discovered at home the day previous suffering from head injuries consistent with a beating by a blunt object. Police conducted an investigation and followed several leads, but no arrests resulted.

On January 5, 1966, the Defendant was picked up by the Manchester, New Hampshire police on an unrelated matter involving a car allegedly stolen in Ohio. During the course of interrogation, he allegedly confessed to five murders, including the Troyer murder, a murder in New Hampshire, two murders in Ohio, and another murder in Maine. ²

On January 16, 1967, the Defendant was adjudged not guilty by reason of insanity on the New Hampshire murder charge, and was committed to the New Hampshire State Prison for life "until or unless earlier discharged, released or transferred by due course of law." The Maine Attorney General was promptly notified by New Hampshire authorities of this disposition.

The Defendant remained in the New Hampshire State Prison until December, 1971, when he was transferred to Ohio for trial on two murder charges there. On June 14, 1972, the Defendant entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity to those charges. The Ohio court accepted that plea and committed him to the Lima State Hospital, such commitment to begin if and when he was released from custody in New Hampshire. The Defendant was then returned to New Hampshire.

In October, 1972, the Maine Attorney General's office apparently reviewed their file on this matter and concluded that the " . . . case should be recalled annually in order that Mr. Steeves' status be checked. If he should ever be released from custody, Maine should proceed with trial."

In October, 1973, the County Attorney of Kennebec County wrote to the Attorney General's office for ". . . a determination of what your intentions are with respect to this case. As far as we know he is still incarcerated and if we are going to try it (sic) the near future would seem the best time." ³

An internal memorandum dated November 20, 1973 indicates that an Assistant Attorney General spoke with New Hampshire prison officials and determined that Defendant had no petition or order for his release pending. This memorandum concluded, "Do you think we should nonetheless explore the possibility of having him transferred to Maine for the purpose of standing trial?"

In January, 1974, an Assistant Attorney General wrote a physician in New Hampshire who had been treating the Defendant, inquiring into the doctor's opinion as to whether the Defendant was competent to stand trial.

On March 11, 1974, the Defendant addressed a pro se "Motion to Dismiss Indictments, Informations or Complaints" to the "Maine Supreme Court (sic)." For reasons not disclosed by the record, that motion and the accompanying papers were not filed in Superior Court in Kennebec County until September 9, 1974. Although the Defendant's affidavit of service stated that he had mailed a copy of the motion to the Attorney General, the Attorney General's file did not indicate receipt of the motion. The next entry in that file appears to have been a memorandum between Assistant Attorneys General dated August 8, 1974, indicating that Defendant's New Hampshire attorney had called to discuss the case.

On September 12, 1974, Defendant's attorney wrote the Attorney General requesting a delay on the motion to dismiss "pending your review of psychiatric reports which will be furnished by us." On December 6, 1974, a "Motion for Order to Examine Defendant to Determine Mental Condition" was filed and served by the Defendant. In his cover letter to the Attorney General, Defendant's attorney stated that it would take approximately six months to resolve certain matters in New Hampshire, but that "(t)he fact that we are filing this Motion for Examination should not be construed in any way as a waiver of the constitutional rights asserted" in the earlier motion to dismiss.

Between April 18, 1975 and August 24, 1975, the record indicates that no other proceedings in the case were held pending appointment of co-counsel in Maine. On October 21, 1975, a motion for a speedy trial was filed. ⁴ On December 2, 1975, a letter from an Assistant Attorney General was filed indicating that proceedings "are being initiated" to transfer the Defendant to Maine. However, the actual transfer pursuant to executive agreement did not occur until sometime in March, 1976; at the hearing below, the Assistant Attorney General ascribed the delay to a "difficulty determining which procedure would be appropriate, insofar as he was in the mental hospital there." Although the hearing on the motion was originally scheduled for April 1, 1976, the defense requested a continuance, and the hearing on Defendant's motion to dismiss was finally held on April 26-27, 1976.

At the conclusion of the hearing below, the parties indicated their interest in having the case reported to the Law Court, and defense counsel indicated that he wished to research the matter before agreeing. On June 17, 1976, the Defendant and the State jointly filed a Motion for Interlocutory Report to the Law Court; the presiding justice entered an order reporting the case the same day.

In addition to the pro se Motion to Dismiss of March, 1974, and the Motion for Speedy Trial of October, 1975, the Defendant, through his counsel, filed Motions to Dismiss on speedy trial grounds in February, 1976 and April, 1977. The latter motion was allegedly occasioned by difficulties in preparing the record for transmission to this Court. ⁵

The right to a speedy trial is guaranteed to all criminal defendants by the Constitutions of both the United States and the State of Maine. U. S. Const. amend. VI; Me.Const. Art. I, § 6. If there has been a denial of that right, dismissal of the charges is the only possible remedy. Strunk v. United States, 412 U.S. 434, 93 S.Ct. 2260, 37 L.Ed.2d 56 (1973).

In determining whether a defendant has been denied a speedy trial, we must "engage in a difficult and sensitive balancing process" of the four factors enunciated in Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), as the criteria by which the asserted deprivation of a speedy trial is to be judged. Necessarily, such a balancing process involves a case by case approach. State v. Carlson, Me., 308 A.2d 294, 298 (1973).

A. Length of Delay

The total period of delay runs from February 3, 1966, the date the indictment was returned, through April 27, 1976, the date of the hearing on the motion, Under Barker, the length of the delay is to some extent a triggering mechanism. "Until there is some delay which is presumptively prejudicial, there is no necessity for inquiry into the other factors that go into the balance." Barker v. Wingo, supra, 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d at 117.

Some jurisdictions calculate the length of delay by subtracting from the total period those periods which are attributable to the Defendant, or during which the State is unable to proceed because the Defendant is being held for trial in another jurisdiction. See Prince v. Alabama, 507 F.2d 693 (5th Cir.), cert. den., 423 U.S. 876, 96 S.Ct. 147, 46 L.Ed.2d 108, reh. den., 423 U.S. 940, 96 S.Ct. 301, 46 L.Ed.2d 273 (1975). However, the State concedes, as it must, that at least for purposes of the triggering function, it would not matter if we were to adopt that rule and subtract the periods that the Defendant was awaiting trial in New Hampshire and Ohio, and the periods of delay occasioned by Defendant's requests for continuances. The remaining delay of approximately eight and one-half years is still "presumptively prejudicial" within Barker and requires us to examine and include the remaining three factors in the balance. We have moved from the "triggering" stage to the "balancing" stage upon far shorter delays than are present here. See State v. Lewis, Me., 373 A.2d 603, 608-609 (1977).

B. Reason for Delay

In its brief the State acknowledges, "That portion of the period between the return of the indictment and the dating of the Defendant's 1974 motion to dismiss which was not attributable to the fact that the Defendant was awaiting trial in another jurisdiction was due . . . solely to the negligence of the State." Thus, at the outset, the State concedes that over seven years of the delay was due to the State's negligence. Negligence is to be weighed less heavily than deliberate attempts by the prosecution to delay the trial, but it must nevertheless be considered because the ultimate responsibility for such circumstances rests with the State and not the Defendant. Barker v. Wingo, supra, 407 U.S. at 531, 92 S.Ct. at 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d at 117.

We do not weigh the eleven and one-half month period between the indictment and the New Hampshire adjudication against the State. Rather than ground our evaluation on the State's assertion that it was "unable" to proceed, we think that,...