Mosley v. Colorado

A jury convicted Victor Mosley of sexually assaulting his youngest daughter. The court of appeals later reversed his convictions and remanded the case for a new trial. Mosley argued on appeal that the trial court violated his statutory speedy trial right on retrial when it granted the prosecution’s request for a continuance. Consequently, he argued, the charges against him should have been dismissed. The issue this case presented for the Colorado Supreme Court’s review was whether the exclusions listed in subsection (6) of the applicable statute applied to the six-month speedy trial calculation for a new trial following reversal of a defendant’s convictions on appeal. Subsection (6) listed circumstances that were excluded from the speedy trial calculation, including delay resulting from a continuance granted because material evidence is unavailable despite the prosecutor’s diligent efforts to obtain such evidence. Moseley contended that his speedy trial right was violated because his new trial was held beyond the six-month deadline in subsection (2), and therefore, the charges against him had to be dismissed. In the alternative, Mosley contended that, even assuming the exclusions in subsection (6) applied to the speedy trial calculation for a new trial under subsection (2), the continuance in this case was unjustified because the prosecution failed to act with due diligence to locate the complaining witness, as required by subsection (6)(g)(I). The Court of Appeals rejected Mosely’s arguments on appeal, and finding no error in the Court of Appeals’ judgment, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Mosley v. Colorado" on Justia Law