Stokes v. State

• Decision Date: 28 March 2000
• Docket Number: No. 1999-KA-00215-COA.,1999-KA-00215-COA.
• Citation: 758 So.2d 452
• Parties: Nomdray STOKES, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.
• Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals

758 So.2d 452

Nomdray STOKES, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 1999-KA-00215-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

March 28, 2000.

Tom Sumrall, Melvin Cooper, Biloxi, Attorneys for Appellant.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, Attorney for Appellee.

BEFORE SOUTHWICK, P.J., LEE, AND MOORE, JJ.

SOUTHWICK, P.J., for the Court:

¶ 1. Nomdray Stokes was found guilty of capital murder by a Harrison County jury and received a life sentence. Stokes appeals on the sole basis that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated. We find that Stokes's argument is without merit and affirm the conviction.

FACTS

¶ 2. Nomdray Stokes and three other men were indicted for capital murder in the death of Eugene Daniels. The underlying felony in this crime was robbery. Stokes and the others forced their way into Daniels's apartment on October 28, 1993, where they sought drugs and money. During the course of the robbery, Daniels jumped on the back of one of the men and began to choke him. Stokes and another co-indictee each fired a shot from their handguns at Daniels, killing him.

¶ 3. On October 1, 1996, an arrest warrant was issued for Stokes, who at that time was incarcerated in Rankin County on an unrelated charge. Stokes was told that Detective Newman of the Biloxi Police Department was going to arrest him at the Rankin County facility. However, it appears that Newman never made the trip, and Stokes was never formally arrested.

¶ 4. A grand jury indictment for capital murder was returned against Stokes on May 28, 1997. Counsel was appointed at this time. On June 26, 1997, Stokes's original attorney, Ed Ellis, was replaced by Michael Cox. Stokes was arraigned on September 12, 1997.

¶ 5. On December 12, 1997, Stokes's case was set for trial on April 28, 1998. Because of a conflict of interest, Michael Cox was replaced as Stokes's attorney by Tom Musselman on December 23, 1997. On January 12, 1998, Musselman withdrew as Stokes's attorney because of a conflict and was replaced by Holt Montgomery.

¶ 6. Stokes was granted a continuance on March 26, 1998, which postponed his trial date until September 14, 1998. On April 8, 1998, Montgomery withdrew as Stokes's counsel and was replaced by Jim Davis. Davis in turn was replaced by Stokes's counsel at trial and for this appeal, Tom Sumrall, on June 9, 1998. Melvin Cooper was appointed co-counsel on August 11, 1998. Stokes filed his motion to dismiss because of violation of his right to a speedy trial on September 2, 1998, not quite two weeks prior to trial. The motion was denied and Stokes was convicted.

DISCUSSION

¶ 7. The sole question presented is whether Stokes's constitutional right to a speedy trial was violated. The starting date to measure delay under a person's Sixth Amendment guarantee of a speedy trial is when that person was "accused." This can be an arrest, an indictment, or any formal charge, whichever is the first to occur. United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 313-15 & 320, 92 S.Ct. 455, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971) (stating arrest or formal charges begin speedy trial period); Doggett v. United States, 505 U.S. 647, 654-55, 112 S.Ct. 2686, 120 L.Ed.2d 520 (1992) (stating indictment six years before arrest started speedy trial considerations).

¶ 8. Stokes was not indicted until May 28, 1997. Seven months earlier on October 1, 1996, an warrant for Stokes's arrest was issued as a result of this murder. At that time Stokes was already incarcerated because of a different offense. At that time he received notice that a warrant existed and that a detective was coming to make the arrest. In addition, Stokes was taken out of the general prison population and placed in a more restrictive confinement to await his arrest. For whatever reason, the detective did not travel from Biloxi to Rankin County and formally place Stokes under arrest. In fact, it does not appear that Stokes was ever arrested for this crime. There is no evidence that he would have been released from Rankin County incarceration prior to the May 1997 indictment but for the unserved arrest warrant.

¶ 9. The first question then is whether the speed at which Stokes was brought to trial should be measured from the early October 1996 warrant or from the late May 1997 indictment. Pre-accusatory delay is not subject to speedy trial considerations. Either an arrest or formal charges must exist. Marion, 404 U.S. at 313-15, 92 S.Ct. 455. Stokes was not indicted until May 1997 and was not arrested since his liberty was already restrained due to other alleged crimes. We are called upon to decide whether the issuance of an arrest warrant without serving it and the apparent change in custodial conditions that resulted from the Rankin County authorities' becoming aware of the warrant is enough to commence the constitutional speedy trial analysis in October 1996.

¶ 10. As already discussed, the existence of an indictment or information charging a defendant with a crime is an accusation sufficient to start speedy trial considerations. An arrest warrant itself, without its being served, has never in our review of the precedents been declared an "accusation" for Sixth Amendment purposes. An unserved arrest warrant, issued because a statutorily empowered magistrate determines that probable cause for the arrest exists, does not formally initiate criminal proceedings or create other effects on a person's liberty interests. Once a person is arrested or formally charged without arrest, the prosecutorial machinery of the State has created an adequate accusation for speedy trial issues to become relevant, but not before then.

¶ 11. We acknowledge that Stokes was not at liberty even though the warrant was unserved. It was due to other charges, though, that Stokes remained in a Rankin County penal facility. Looking at the offense of murder for which he was convicted and then has appealed here, that offense caused the issuance of a warrant. Notification of officials at the Rankin County Sheriff's Department of the arrest warrant caused them to place Stokes in a more restrictive environment.

Other courts have found that an increase in restrictions of incarceration is not the equivalent of an "arrest" for speedy trial rules. One court stated that this view was "unanimous":

The question before us is whether placement in administrative segregation should be treated as an arrest for speedy trial purposes. The courts are unanimous in holding that it should not. United States v. Mills, 704 F.2d 1553, 1556-57 (11th Cir.1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1243, 104 S.Ct. 3517, 82 L.Ed.2d 825 (1984); United States v. Daniels, 698 F.2d 221, 223 (4th Cir. 1983); Mills, 641 F.2d at 787; United States v. Blevins, 593 F.2d 646, 647 (5th Cir.1979) (per curiam); United States v. Bambulas, 571 F.2d 525, 527 (10th Cir. 1978) (per curiam); United States v. Clardy, 540 F.2d 439, 441 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 963, 97 S.Ct. 391, 50 L.Ed.2d 331 (1976). These cases refuse to equate administrative segregation with arrest because the consequences of administrative segregation are different from those of arrest.

United States v. Mills, 810 F.2d 907, 909 (9th Cir.1987). All of these cases concern defendants who committed a crime while incarcerated, usually against another inmate. They were then placed in more restrictive confinement pending proceedings on the offenses. The courts all rejected the defendants' contentions that speedy trial requirements began once restrictions were increased. The United States Supreme Court referred to these conclusions without indicating any disagreement. United States v. Gouveia, 467 U.S. 180, 190, 104 S.Ct. 2292, 81 L.Ed.2d 146 (1984) (stating that various federal circuit courts have "held that the segregation of an inmate from the general population pending criminal charges does not constitute an `arrest' for purposes of the speedy trial right.").

¶ 12. The rule distinguishes segregation within a prison from "the onset of the accusatory phase" because prison administrative decisions are an "internal disciplinary measure that is totally independent from the criminal processes of arrest and prosecution." United States v. Mills, 704 F.2d 1553, 1556-57 (11th Cir.1983). ¶ 13. Since Stokes was already incarcerated on other charges, and since there is no evidence here that the confinement was extended to the date of the capital murder indictment because of issuance of an arrest warrant, we conclude that the date to begin measuring the delay in bringing him to trial is May 28, 1997, when the grand jury issued an indictment. As the remainder of our discussion indicates, though, when the relevant period began is not controlling in this case.

¶ 14. Having established the starting point, we turn to the balancing test enumerated in Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972). The Barker court's four factors to consider are (1) the length of the delay, (2) the reason for the delay, (3) the defendant's assertion of his right to a speedy trial, and (4) the prejudice resulting to the defendant. Id. at 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182. The weight given each factor necessarily turns on the peculiar circumstances of each case, the quality of evidence available on each factor and, in the absence of evidence, identification of the party with the risk of non-persuasion. Jaco v. State, 574 So.2d 625, 630 (Miss.1990). In its balancing, the trial court's conclusion will not be reversed unless manifestly wrong. Walters v. Patterson, 531 So.2d 581, 583 (Miss.1988).

1. Length of Delay

¶ 15. This factor 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, 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182. Even using the May 28, 1997 starting point, there was well over fifteen months that elapsed from the initiation of the criminal justice process until Stokes's...