State v. Space

Summary

The Nebraska Supreme Court held that setting an initial trial date outside the statutory six-month speedy-trial period, with the defendant's consent, does not constitute a continuance under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-1207(4)(b). The court also rejected the State's invited-error argument and affirmed the defendant's absolute discharge because the State failed to establish an applicable excludable period. The court overruled the State's exception proceeding.

Holdings

1. A continuance under § 29-1207(4)(b) is the postponement of a proceeding previously set for one date to a future date. Setting an initial trial date outside the statutory 6-month period is not a continuance, even when the defendant or defense counsel agrees that the proposed date works, and the resulting period is not excludable under § 29-1207(4)(b).
2. A defendant's consent to an initial trial date set outside the statutory 6-month period does not invoke the waiver provision in the last sentence of § 29-1207(4)(b). That provision applies when a defendant requests a continuance that moves a trial date originally set within the statutory period to a date beyond that period.
3. The invited error doctrine did not bar Space from seeking absolute discharge. Her counsel did not invite the trial court to commit a speedy-trial error by answering a scheduling question affirmatively when neither the State nor the court raised the speedy-trial deadline.
4. Because the State failed to bring Space to trial within 6 months after the information was filed, as extended by the single established excludable day, Space was entitled to absolute discharge under § 29-1208.

Questions Presented

1. Whether an initial trial date set outside Nebraska's 6-month statutory speedy-trial period becomes an excludable period of delay under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-1207(4)(b) merely because the defendant or defense counsel agrees that the date works.
2. Whether the defendant's agreement to an initial trial date beyond the statutory deadline constituted a continuance, a statutory waiver, or invited error preventing absolute discharge.
3. Whether the district court erred in granting absolute discharge under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 29-1208.

Disposition

other