People v. McCracken
People v. McCracken
Opinion of the Court
On Rehearing
We granted defendant’s application for rehearing in this case to consider whether our original opinion incorrectly concluded that defendant was not denied his right to a speedy trial under the balancing test set forth in Barker v Wingo, 407 US 514; 92 S Ct 2182; 33 L Ed 2d 101 (1972). That test requires evaluation of four factors: (1) length of the delay, (2) reason for the delay, (3) defendant’s assertion of his right to a speedy trial, and (4) prejudice to the defendant resulting from the delay.
In our original opinion in this matter, we concluded that 24 of the 31 months of the delay were attributable to the state. Defendant has suggested that the 24-month figure was too low; however, even if we agree with this argument our result would not change because in the original opinion we found that the first two factors in the balancing test favored defendant.
Next, defendant challenges our previous determinations that he failed to assert his speedy trial right and suffered no prejudice resulting from the delay. He claims that the prosecution orchestrated the delay by failing to call the case for trial even though trial was scheduled. The effect of this
Defendant also claims prejudice to his defense due to certain witnesses becoming unavailable during the delay. We see no reason for changing our previous opinion as to witnesses Thomas Mc-Cracken and Melvin Stinson. In his brief on rehearing, defendant refers to three other unavailable witnesses not specifically mentioned in the original appellate brief. Peter Pronius, who died during the delay period, allegedly would have impeached the testimony of prosecution witness Joel Reed. However, Reed’s testimony was corroborated by other witnesses. Dennis Sutton, another
Defendant’s last contention is that his divorce, which occurred during the delay, prejudiced his defense because he was unable at trial to present himself as a married man with children when the prosecution argued that he did not care about his family. The prosecution’s argument was based on defendant’s conduct and statements during the planning and execution of the crime and not on the fact of the divorce. We find no prejudice here.
We decline to reverse our original opinion in this case.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.