ROBERT LEE REDDEN, JR., APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1983-04-08
No. 82-889
CAMPBELL and LEHAN, JJ., concur.
429 So. 2d 99 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1983) Caution
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Robert Lee Redden, Jr. appealed his multiple convictions, arguing the state failed to bring him to trial within the 180-day speedy trial period. The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed his convictions, holding that Redden waived his speedy trial rights by requesting continuances through his counsel, despite the lack of a written record documenting the waiver.


Holding

The court held that Redden waived application of the speedy trial rule. Although no written record documented the continuances, the state attorney's testimony and the trial judge's distinct recollection of granting the second continuance at counsel's request, combined with Redden's attorney's failure to deny these statements, established a valid waiver.


Headnotes

[1] A defendant waives the speedy trial rule when the continuances of the trial are obtained at the defendant's request, even if the record does not explicitly state who requ…

[2] A court's recollection of granting a continuance at the request of defense counsel, when not denied by defense counsel, can establish a waiver of the speedy trial rule.

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Key Quotes

“nothing filed in the record during the 180-day period reflects at whose instance the two continuances were obtained”

Establishes the core issue: absence of written documentation of who requested the continuances

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Facts & Procedural History

Redden was arrested on May 31, 1981, with trial originally scheduled for August 3, 1981. His trial was continued to October 5, 1981 at a July 30 docke…

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Opinion of the Court
GRIMES, Acting Chief Judge.

GRIMES, Acting Chief Judge.

Appellant contends that his multiple convictions should be reversed for failure of the state to bring him to trial within the time prescribed by the speedy trial rule.

The appellant was arrested on May 31, 1981. His trial was originally scheduled for August 3, 1981. At the docket sounding on July 30, 1981, his trial was continued until October 5, 1981. At a subsequent docket sounding on October 1, 1981, the trial was postponed until November 30, 1981.

Appellant points out that the 180-day period within which the state was required to bring him to trial expired on November 27, 1981. He admits that if he obtained a continuance of the trial during that period of time, he would have waived his rights under the speedy trial rule. Butterworth v. Fluellen, 389 So. 2d 968 (Fla.1980); Pieters v. State, 402 So. 2d 531 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981). However, he accurately states that nothing filed in the record during the 180-day period reflects at whose instance the two continuances were obtained.

At the hearing on the motion to discharge, the state attorney emphatically stated that both continuances had been granted at the request of the appellant’s lawyer. The court did not recall the circumstances surrounding the first continuance but stated that she specifically remembered granting the second continuance upon the request of appellant’s counsel. She further recalled telling him that the postponement of the trial until November 30 would be the last continuance which she would grant him. Appellant’s attorney stated that he had no recollection of whether he requested either of the two continuances.

The appellant relies primarily upon this court’s decision in Smith v. State, 345 So. 2d 1117 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977), in which we ordered the defendant discharged for failure to comply with the speedy trial rule because there was no record evidence of a waiver. The state contended that the defendant waived his right to speedy trial by either agreeing or acquiescing to a trial date beyond 180 days. However, nothing in the record supported this position. Neither attorney who appeared at the discharge hearing was present when the defendant’s case was set for trial, and the public defender represented that no one from her office had agreed to any specific trial date. The court itself had no recollection concerning the subject.

Here, the circumstances were substantially different. Not only did the state attorney assert that appellant had requested the continuances, but the court also put on record her distinct recollection that she had granted the second continuance at the request of appellant’s lawyer. Appellant’s attorney did not deny the truth of these statements. Consequently, we hold that appellant waived the application of the speedy trial rule.1

In so ruling, we do not retreat from our admonition in Smith v. State that there should be a transcript of any proceedings which involve a possible waiver of the speedy trial rule. Had such a transcript been made in this case, there would have been no dispute on which to predicate an appeal. However, it would subvert justice to order a discharge when it can be said without question that the rule was timely waived.2 Cf. State v. Earnest, 265 So. 2d 397 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972) (upholding an attorneys’ oral stipulation to waive the speedy trial rule not made in the presence of the court).

AFFIRMED.

CAMPBELL and LEHAN, JJ., concur. . Of course, the appellant retained his constitutional guarantee to a speedy trial and the right to file a written demand for trial, neither of which is involved in this case. See Butterworth v. Fluellen.

. Our disposition of this case makes it unnecessary to consider the effect of appellant’s written motion for continuance filed on November 19, 1981, which was denied. See Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.191(e).


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Citator

Cited By

  • Otilio Martin v. State, 449 So. 2d 939 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)
    …nt had personally authorized the waiver of speedy trial. Here there is at least some indication that appellant was present in his attorney’s office when the telephone calls in question were made. The second district’s conclusion in Redden v. State, 429 So. 2d 99 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983) was not based on a finding that contemporaneous record activity supported the trial judge’s recollection. Rather, the court held that the speedy trial rule was not violated even though no transcript of any proceeding which involve…
    1 / 2

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