Williams v. State, S03A1609.

• Citation: 277 Ga. 598,592 S.E.2d 848
• Decision Date: 16 February 2004
• Docket Number: No. S03A1609.,S03A1609.
• Parties: WILLIAMS v. The STATE.
• Court: Supreme Court of Georgia

592 S.E.2d 848

277 Ga. 598

WILLIAMS v. The STATE.

No. S03A1609.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

February 16, 2004.

Randall M. Clark, Brunswick, for appellant.

Stephen D. Kelley, Dist. Atty., John B. Johnson, III, Asst. Dist. Atty., Thurbert E. Baker, Atty. Gen., Susan V. Boleyn, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

HUNSTEIN, Justice.

On March 6, 1998, Littray Williams was indicted on two counts of malice murder, one count of arson, two counts of armed robbery, one count of burglary, two counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of felony murder with burglary serving as the underlying alleged felony. Those charges were brought in connection with the March 20, 1996, deaths of Willie and Ruby Brown. The State has given notice of its intent to seek the death penalty. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part the trial court's order, filed on June 13, 2003, in which it concluded that Williams had not been denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial as to the two counts of malice murder, the one count of arson, the two counts of armed robbery, and the two counts of aggravated assault. However, as it appears from our review of the record that Williams was previously indicted on March 4, 1997, for the same burglary alleged in his 1998 indictment, we remand this case in part for further proceedings in the trial court on the issue of whether Williams's right to a speedy trial on the charge of burglary was denied and, if so, for additional consideration of how that denial affects the viability of Williams's felony murder charges predicated on the alleged burglary.

1. In this appeal, Williams raises a constitutional speedy trial claim rather than a statutory speedy trial claim. See OCGA § 17-7-171 (statutory procedure for demanding a speedy trial). In examining an alleged denial of the constitutional right to a speedy trial, courts must engage in a balancing test with the following factors being considered: (1) the length of the delay; (2) the reasons for the delay; (3) the defendant's assertion of the right to a speedy trial; and (4) prejudice to the defendant. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972). The existence of no one factor is either necessary or sufficient to sustain a speedy trial claim, and a trial court's findings of fact and its weighing of disputed facts will be afforded deference on appeal. State v. Redding, 274 Ga. 831, 832(4), 561 S.E.2d 79 (2002); State v. Johnson, 274 Ga. 511, 514-515, 555 S.E.2d 710 (2001).

(a) The relevant time period in a speedy trial claim begins with the earlier of the date of indictment and the date of arrest. Boseman v. State, 263 Ga. 730, 731(1), 438 S.E.2d 626 (1994). Accordingly, the trial court erred in calculating the length of the delay in bringing Williams to trial on the charges other than burglary by basing its calculation on the date of Williams's arrest in April of 1998 rather than the date of his March 1998 indictment. Nevertheless, our review of the trial court's order is not substantially altered by this error, because the difference in time involved amounts to only 27 days of the more than 61 months of delay beginning with Williams's March 1998 indictment. We agree with the trial court that such a delay is so extraordinarily long as to be considered presumptively prejudicial and to require the consideration of the remaining factors in the balancing test. Boseman, 263 Ga. at 732(1), 438 S.E.2d 626(a).

(b) The trial court's order and the record both indicate that Williams's frequent and lengthy medical examinations and treatments for an abnormal mass in his brain were the primary reason for the lengthy delay in his being brought to trial on the charges in his 1998 indictment. Our review of the record supports the trial court's finding regarding Williams's lengthy hospitalization from May to December of 2000. Additionally, our review of the record reveals that Williams was hospitalized from September to October of 1999, in February of 2000, and in May of 2000. Although these hospitalizations began five and one-half months after Williams's 1998 indictment, some action, mostly at the initiation of the defense, continued in Williams's case in 1999 and early 2000. After a period of some apparent inactivity, likely owing to Williams's medical treatments, the case was reassigned to a new trial judge in September of 2000 when the previously-presiding trial judge assumed senior status. However, in light of Williams's ongoing medical difficulties and the uncertainties of the outcome of his treatment, defense counsel and the State both agreed in 2001 not to press Williams's case forward toward trial until Williams's planned surgery had been completed. Williams's medical treatments finally ceased to be an active reason for delay on December 5, 2001, when Williams ultimately declined surgical treatment. Shortly after Williams's surgery was canceled, the trial court conducted a status conference. From that point until Williams's motion to dismiss on speedy trial grounds was heard, it appears that Williams's case was being conscientiously attended to by all involved in the case, save only the defense investigator and, perhaps, defense counsel. The defense's unreadiness for trial was made manifest to the trial court and the State only as late as December of 2002, when defense counsel moved the trial court for an ex parte hearing for additional resources and further moved the trial court for a continuance until May 1, 2003. As the above recitation of selected facts illustrates, the trial court reasonably concluded that, on balance, the reasons for delay in bringing Williams's 1998 indictment to...