Absent a showing of good cause, a court may not continue a felony defendants trial beyond the statutory period in order to maintain joinder with a codefendant. The defendant claimed that his speedy trial rights were violated where, over his objection, the trial court granted the prosecutions motion to continue the trial for a period amounting to 97 days after defendant’s arraignment on the indictment, and 179 days after he was originally arraigned on the information. The sole reason for the delay was the prosecutors desire to try defendant jointly with another defendant. The Court of Appeal found that Penal Code section 1051.1 did not apply in this case because the codefendants trial was not continued “for good cause,” but was rather being set for the first time. Further, the court found that the continuance was not appropriate where the sole consideration below was the interest in maintaining joinder between the defendants, with no consideration of the defendants right to a speedy trial. Thus, the granting of the prosecutors request for continuance was an abuse of discretion.
Case Summaries