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755 So. 2d 205

Docket No. 99-KK-3235.

State v. Morris

STATE of Louisiana v. Joseph MORRIS.

Supreme Court of Louisiana

Decided February 18, 2000.

Supreme Court of Louisiana · decided 2000-02-18

Cited by 33 later decisions — most recently June 2017 · most notably 953 So. 2d 890 - State v. Lathan (2007), 940 So. 2d 61 - State v. Jones (2006)

33 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“An interruption of prescription occurs when the state is unable, through no fault of its own, to try a defendant within the period specified by statute, in this case two years.... Once the cause of interruption disappears, the two-year time limit begins anew. See La.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 579(B). In contrast, the prescriptive period is merely suspended, until the trial court rules on the filing of preliminary pleas. The relevant period is simply not counted, and the running of the time limit resumes when the motions are ruled on. Note, however, that "in no case shall the state have less than one year after the ruling to commence the trial." La.Code Crim. Proc.Ann. art. 580. (Footnote omitted)”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including 864 So. 2d 824 - State v. Quinones, 997 So. 2d 144 - State v. Tillman

“IfiOnce the accused shows that the state has failed to bring him to trial within the time periods specified by La.C.Cr.P. art. 578, the state bears a heavy burden of demonstrating that either an interruption or a suspension of the time limit tolled prescription. State v. Joseph, 93-2734, p. 1 (La.6/3/94), 637 So.2d 1032 ; State v. Rome, 630 So.2d 1284, 1286 (La.1994); State v. Estill, 614 So.2d 709, 710 (La.1993).”

quoted by 2 later decisions, including 59 So. 3d 568 - State v. GRUDEWICZ, 839 So. 2d 1193 - State v. Buckley

Relies on 630 So. 2d 1284 - State v. Rome · State v. Cranmer · 694 So. 2d 626 - State v. Harris

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2000-02-18

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1PER CURIAM:[*]

¶2The ruling of the trial court is reversed and this case is remanded to the district court for purposes of rehearing the motion to quash.

¶3The trial court erred in giving the state the benefit of the doubt on the issue of prescription. Once the accused shows that the state has failed to bring him to trial within the time periods specified by La.C.Cr.P. art. 578, the state bears a heavy burden of demonstrating that either an interruption or a suspension of the time limit tolled prescription. State v. Joseph, 93-2734, p. 1 (La.6/3/94), 637 So.2d 1032; State v. Rome,630 So.2d 1284, 1286 (La.1994); State v. Estill,614 So.2d 709, 710 (La.1993). In the present case, the state filed its bill of information charging relator with fourth offense D.W.I. on February 7, 1997, and it therefore had until February 7, 1999, to bring relator to trial. La.C.Cr.P. art. 578(2). Even assuming that relator asked the court on February 12, 1997, to continue his arraignment set for that date, a motion for a continuance suspends, not interrupts, the running of prescription "until the ruling of the court thereon." La.C.Cr.P. art. 580; see State v. Fabacher,362 So.2d 555, 556 (La.1978); State v. Cranmer,306 So.2d 698, 699-700 (La.1975). La.C.Cr.P. art. 580 further provides that "in no case shall the state have less than one year after the ruling to commence the trial." The court's continuance of arraignment on February 12, 1997, only a week after the state initiated prosecution by filing the bill of information, had no bearing on the prescription issue because the one-year minimum time period provided by art. 580 for bringing the accused to trial after the court ruled on the motion was far less than the balance of the original two-year term provided *206 by art. 578(2). See State v. Harris, 29,574, p. 4 (La.App. 2nd Cir. 5/7/97), 694 So.2d 626, 629 ("Contrary to the state's contention, the prescriptive period is suspended when the preliminary motion is filed, not when it is ruled upon by the trial court."). To carry its heavy burden of justifying the untimely prosecution of relator, who was not arraigned until June of 1999, or several months after the two-year time limit had already apparently lapsed, the state must show that another ground of interruption under La.C.Cr.P. art. 579 or of suspension under art. 580 existed to justify the delay.

NOTES

¶4[*] Lemmon, J., not on panel. See La. S.Ct. Rule IV, Part II, § 3.

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