No. 90-190
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
1990
STATE OF MONTANA, CITY OF BOZEMAN
-v-
Plaintiff and Respondent,
' A 7 FB
! . - A A ~
DONALD LEON SPIETH, SEP 4 1990
Defendant and Appellant.
CLERK OF SUZREIWE G99R7
STATE OF LIOMTAFIA
APPEAL FROM: District Court of the Eighteenth Judicial District,
In and for the County of Gallatin,
The Honorable Larry W. Moran, Judge presiding.
COUNSEL OF RECORD:
For Appellant:
McKinley Anderson, Bozeman, Montana
For Respondent:
Marc Racicot, Attorney General; Elizabeth S. Baker,
Asst. Attorney General, Helena, Montana
Bruce Becker, City Attorney, Bozeman, Montana
Submitted on Briefs: July 13, 1990
Decided: September 4, 1990
0
Filed:
- - I
I Clerk
Justice Diane G. Barz delivered the Opinion of the Court.
Defendant Donald Leon Speith appeals the Eighteenth Judicial
District Court's order dismissing his appeal from Bozeman City
Court as untimely. We affirm.
The following issues are presented for review:
1. Is the defendant, convicted in city court of driving
under the influence of alcohol, entitled to de novo
review in the District Court where he failed to secure
transmittal of the record?
2. Is the defendant entitled to dismissal of the charges
against him for failure of the City of Bozeman to seek
dismissal of his appeal at an earlier date?
Speith was arrested in Bozeman on July 5, 1988 for driving
under the influence of alcohol, fourth offense. On July 11, 1988
Speith appeared with counsel and pleaded not guilty. At the July
2 7 , 1988 bench trial in Bozeman City Court, Speith was convicted
as charged. On August 1, 1988 Speith was fined $1,010 and
sentenced to one year in jail with ten days to be served
consecutively and weekends in jail for a one-year period. The
court suspended the remainder of the sentence on the condition that
Speith surrender his car for 90 days and complete a treatment
program.
Speith filed a notice of appeal with the city court on August
3, 1988 and execution of sentence was stayed pending appeal. The
Bozeman City Clerk sent a memo to Speith's counsel on August 5,
1988 requesting counsel to complete and return a praecipe to
transmit the record, indicating the praecipe form was enclosed.
Not until January 15, 1990 was the completed praecipe for
transmittal executed. The record was then transmitted to Gallatin
County District Court on January 19, 1990, a delay of almost a year
and a half.
On January 31, 1990, the District Court entered an order
dismissing the appeal for failure to transmit the record within the
time required by law. From this order Speith now appeals.
As this Court has previously noted, the right to appeal a
criminal conviction from justice or city court is purely statutory.
State v. Hartford (1987), 228 Mont. 254, 256, 741 P.2d 1337, 1338.
Appeals from justice or city courts are addressed in 5 46-17-311,
MCA, which provides in part:
(2) A party may appeal to the district court by
giving written notice of his intention to appeal within
10 days after judgment, except that the state may only
appeal in the cases provided for in 46-20-103.
(3) Within 30 days, the entire record of the
justices1 or city court proceedings must be transferred
to the district court or the appeal must be dismissed.
It is the duty of the appellant to perfect the appeal.
This Court has consistently held that strict compliance with
46-17-311, MCA, is necessary to perfect an appeal. State v.
Arthur (1988), 234 Mont. 75, 76-77, 761 P.2d 806, 807; Hartford at
256, 257, 741 P.2d at 1338. We once again affirm that it is the
duty of appellant to perfect the appeal. See State v. Main (1981),
191 Mont. 304, 623 P.2d 1382; State v. Crane (1982), 196 Mont. 305,
639 P.2d 514; City of Billings v. Seiffert (1985), 215 Mont. 381,
697 P.2d 1342.
As the statute indicates, in order to perfect the appeal the
entire justice or city court record must be transmitted to the
district court within 30 days of judgment, and only when the clerk
forwards such records is the transmission of records effected.
Main at 307, 623 P.2d at 1383. The appellant, with whom the
statutory duty to perfect the appeal lies, must request the justice
or city court to transmit the record to the district court. State
v. Dubray (1982), 201 Mont. 327, 331, 654 P.2d 970, 972.
According to the record, the City of Bozeman did not receive
a request for transmittal of the record until January 15, 1990,
nearly a year and a half after the city court rendered its
judgment. Had the record reflected a dispute over whether defense
counsel actually requested transmission of the record, the district
court must hold a hearing to resolve the issue and make a factual
finding to determine whether the appeal had been perfected.
Seiffert at 383, 697 P.2d at 1344.
Here there is no evidence in the record nor even an assertion
by Speith on appeal that he requested the city court's records be
transmitted to the District Court before January 15, 1990. Thus,
Speithlsargument that the District Court erred in failing to hold
a hearing to determine whether he had in fact requested the record
transmitted, as required by Seiffert, has no merit. Moreover,
Speith did not request a hearing at the District Court level.
Speith next argues that because the prosecution failed to
either bring him to trial or seek dismissal of the appeal within
six months of city court judgment, he was denied his right to a
speedy trial. Speith contends that this Court should construe 9
46-13-201(2), MCA "as placing a statutory period on the city in
which to move to have the appeal di~missed.~' Section 46-13-
201 (2), MCA, provides that prosecution of misdemeanor charges must
be dismissed "if a defendant whose trial has not been postponed
upon his application is not brought to trial within six months
after entry of plea." Speithlsreliance on this statute is without
merit.
The initial trial in city court was well within the six-month
limitation imposed by statute. Speith, however, argues that the
six-month time limit also applies to his right to a trial de novo
in district court following the filing of his notice of appeal.
Section 46-13-201(2), MCA, is limited to the time within which a
case properly before the court may be tried, and its provisions may
not be invoked unless the court has obtained jurisdiction. The
District Court in this case had not obtained jurisdiction because
Speith had failed to perfect the appeal.
Furthermore, where the delay has been caused by the defendant,
9 46-13-201(2), MCA, does not apply. State v. Crane (Mont. 1989),
784 P.2d 901, 903, 46 St.Rep. 2082, 2085. It is defendant Speith
who occasioned the delay in resolving his appeal. Therefore, he
is not entitled to claim the protection of § 46-13-201(2), MCA.
Lastly, Speith seems to argue that even if he is not entitled
to a trial de novo, the charges should nevertheless be dismissed
because he has been deprived of a speedy execution of his sentence.
In his brief Speith contends that he has "a right to have the
sentence of the court cancel out so that he can reorganize his life
after the sentence has been served."
Speith's argument is analogous to that made in Mobley v.
Dugger (11th Cir. 1987), 823 F.2d 1495. In Mobley the appellant,
like Speith, argued that "the due process clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment accords a prisoner the right to reestablish himself and
live down his past (citation omitted) and that the state violates
this right when it delays the incarceration of a prisoner for an
inordinate amount of time." Mobley at 1496.
We concur with the holding of the Moblev court:
Such a due process right, if it indeed exists, takes life
from the constitutional protection against arbitrary and
capricious state action. See Shelton v. Ciccone, 578
F.2d 1241, 1245 (8th Cir. 1978). Accordingly, we have
held that:
[In order for a delay in the execution of a
sentence to be repugnant to the Fourteenth
Amendment], it is not sufficient to prove
official conduct that merely evidences a lack
of eager pursuit or even arguable lack of
interest. Rather the waiving state's action
must be so affirmatively wrong or its inaction
so grossly negligent that it would be
unequivocally inconsistent with "fundamental
principles of liberty and justice" to require
a legal sentence to be sewed in the aftermath
of such action or inaction.
Piper v. Estelle, 485 F.2d 245, 246 (5th Cir. 1973)
(Citation omitted.) Obviously, the state does not deny
a prisoner due process when the prisoner himself is
responsible for the delay. Albori v. United States, 67
F.2d 4, 7 (9th Cir. 1933); White v. Pearlman, 42 F.2d
788, 789 (10th Cir. 1930); United States v. Merritt, 478
F.Supp. 804, 807 (D.D.C. 1979).
Mobley, at 1496-97.
Here, as in Mobley, Speith himself is responsible for the
delay in execution of his sentence. Had Speith perfected his
delay in execution of his sentence. Had Speith perfected his
appeal in accordance with 5 46-13-201(2), MCA, his sentence would
not have been delayed.
We affirm the judgment of the District Cpurt.
We Concur:
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