State v. Young

• Decision Date: 26 July 2001
• Docket Number: No. 25975.,25975.
• Citation: 29 P.3d 949,136 Idaho 113
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Edward YOUNG, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

29 P.3d 949

136 Idaho 113

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Edward YOUNG, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 25975.

Supreme Court of Idaho. Idaho Falls, May 2001 Term.

July 26, 2001.

Alan G. Lance, Attorney General, Boise, for appellant. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.

Kent V. Reynolds, Pocatello, for respondent.

EISMANN, Justice.

The State appeals from an order dismissing this action because the defendant Edward Young (Young) was not brought to trial timely. It also appeals from an order entered prior to the dismissal granting the defendant's motions in limine. We reverse the order dismissing this action, and we reverse in part the order granting the motions in limine.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On June 4, 1997, the State charged Young with committing the felony offense of lewd conduct with his 11 year old adopted daughter. Although Young, his wife and daughter lived in Wyoming, this offense allegedly occurred in 1995 while Young and his daughter were camping on real property owned by Young in Bear Lake County, Idaho.

Young was arrested in Wyoming on June 4, 1997, and he was transported to the Bear Lake County jail on June 13, 1997. At his initial appearance before a magistrate judge on June 16, 1997, the preliminary hearing was set for June 25, 1997. On that date, the preliminary hearing was continued at Young's request to July 15, 1997, his bond was reduced, and he was released from custody after posting bond.

At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, the magistrate judge found that there was probable cause to believe that Young committed the offense charged, and Young was held to answer in the district court. The State filed an information in the district court on July 16, 1997, and on August 7, 1997, Young was arraigned in district court where he entered a plea of "not guilty" to the offense charged. Young's jury trial was scheduled to commence on October 27, 1997.

In September Young filed three motions in limine, which were heard on October 1 and 9, 1997. On October 20, 1997, Young's counsel died. At Young's request, the jury trial was vacated. Young later filed two signed statements in which he waived his right to a speedy trial to the extent of any delay caused by his request to vacate and reset the trial due to the death of his counsel. The jury trial was reset to commence on January 15, 1998.

On November 21, 1997, the district court issued its order granting Young's motions in limine, and on December 8, 1997, the State filed a notice of appeal from that order. Because a final judgment had not yet been entered, the State could not appeal as a matter of right from the order granting the motions in limine. The State asked this Court to exercise its plenary power under article V, section 9, of the Idaho constitution.¹ This Court declined to invoke its plenary power to review the order granting the motions in limine, and on July 28, 1999, it dismissed the appeal. State v. Young, 133 Idaho 177, 983 P.2d 831 (1999).

On January 8, 1998, with the consent of the parties, the district court vacated the jury trial scheduled to commence on January 15, 1998. After this Court dismissed the appeal, the district court reset the jury trial to commence on October 25, 1999. On September 15, 1999, Young filed a motion to dismiss this case on the grounds that his statutory and constitutional rights to a speedy trial had been violated. That motion was heard on September 23, 1999, and at the conclusion of the hearing the district court orally granted the motion to dismiss. On the next day the district court entered a written order dismissing the case. The State then prosecuted this appeal.

II.

A. DID THE DISTRICT COURT ERR IN DISMISSING THIS CASE ON THE GROUND THAT THE DEFENDANT WAS DEPRIVED OF HIS RIGHT TO A SPEEDY TRIAL?

Young moved to dismiss this case on the grounds that he was deprived of his statutory and constitutional rights to a speedy trial. The statutory basis for Young's motion was Idaho Code § 19-3501(2), which provides:

The court, unless good cause to the contrary is shown, must order the prosecution or indictment to be dismissed, in the following cases:

....

2. If a defendant, whose trial has not been postponed upon his application, is not brought to trial within six (6) months from the date that the indictment or information is filed with the court.

The district court's comments at the hearing on the motion to dismiss indicate that the court based its dismissal upon this statute.

When a felony defendant is not brought to trial within six months after the information was filed, the district court must dismiss the case unless the State shows good cause for the delay. State v. Clark, 135 Idaho 255, 16 P.3d 931 (2000); I.C. § 19-3501(2). Good cause means that there was a substantial reason for the delay that rises to the level of a legal excuse. State v. Clark, 135 Idaho 255, 16 P.3d 931 (2000). Because there is no fixed rule for determining what constitutes good cause, the matter is initially left to the discretion of the district court. Id. On appeal, we will independently review the district court's exercise of that discretion. Id.

When addressing the issue of good cause for the delay, the district court stated, "[W]hat the court needs to apply is a balancing test in this case that deals with the length of the delay and to what party it's charged with." After stating that the delay caused by the appeal was chargeable to the State, the district court concluded, "[W]hen it's gone on for virtually two years, over two years, the court feels that there hasn't been a speedy prosecution or trial in this case and therefore the motion to dismiss is granted."

The analysis of whether there was good cause is not simply a determination of who was responsible for the delay and how long the case has been pending. Rather, the analysis should focus upon the reason for the delay. Is there "a substantial reason that rises to the level of a legal excuse for the delay"? State v. Clark, 135 Idaho 255, 260, 16 P.3d 931, 936 (2000). In this case, the trial was delayed beyond the six-month period because the State attempted an interlocutory appeal from the district court's order granting Young's motions in limine. An interlocutory appeal by the State from an order excluding evidence ordinarily is a valid reason that justifies delay. If the evidence was erroneously excluded and, as a result, the defendant was acquitted, a later appeal could not correct that error. The defendant could not be retried. For that reason, Idaho Appellate Rule 11(c)(7) grants the State the right to an interlocutory appeal from an order granting a motion to suppress evidence. Although Rule 11(c)(7) is limited to orders granting motions to suppress evidence, it reflects the important public interest in appellate review of orders excluding evidence.

In this case, as in most cases involving allegations of child sexual abuse, the only witnesses to what did or did not occur are the defendant and the alleged victim. The crime is alleged to have occurred when Young and his daughter were alone in his camper. As this Court has recognized, evidence corroborating the victim's testimony is especially relevant in this type of case because the determination of the case rests upon the jury's assessment of the credibility of the defendant and the alleged victim. State v. Cross, 132 Idaho 667, 978 P.2d 227 (1999). The State contends that the evidence excluded by the district court when it granted Young's motion in limine would have corroborated the alleged victim's testimony. The issue that the State sought to appeal was not tangential to the case. Likewise, there is nothing to indicate that the State filed the appeal in bad faith or simply to cause delay. That this Court declined to invoke its plenary power to hear the appeal does not mean that it was unreasonable for the State to seek appellate review of the order granting Young's motions in limine by the only avenue then available. As is shown below, the issues the State desired to raise in the appeal were not frivolous.

We hold, on the facts in this case, that there was good cause for the delay in this case. The district court abused its discretion in dismissing this case under Idaho Code § 19-3501.² Young also argued that the delay in this case violated his rights to a speedy trial under the state and federal constitutions. The Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees to criminal defendants the right to a speedy trial. This right is applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. In addition, Article 1, § 13, of the Constitution of the State of Idaho also guarantees the accused in a criminal case the right to a speedy trial. In Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), the United States Supreme Court adopted a four-part balancing test to determine whether a defendant's right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment has been infringed. We have adopted that same test in determining whether the right to a speedy trial under our state constitution has been violated. State v. Lindsay, 96 Idaho 474, 531 P.2d 236 (1975). The four factors to be balanced are (1) the length of the delay, (2) the reason for the delay, (3) the assertion of accused's right to a speedy trial, and (4) the prejudice to the accused.

The first factor, the length of the delay, is a triggering mechanism. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972). Until there is some delay which is presumptively prejudicial, it is unnecessary to inquire into the other three factors. Id. Under the Sixth Amendment, the period of delay is measured from the date there is "a formal indictment or information or else the actual restraints imposed by arrest and holding to answer a criminal charge." United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 320, 92 S.Ct. 455, 463, 30 L.Ed.2d 468, 479 (1971). Under the Idaho Constitution, the period of delay is measured from the date formal charges are filed...