Smith v. Superior Court
Annotate this CaseOn February 10, Donald Smith and Christopher Sims were charged with felony first degree residential burglary. Smith did not waive his statutory right to be brought to trial within sixty days of his arraignment, but the trial date of Sims was continued beyond the sixty-day period for good cause. The trial was set for April 27, which meant that the last day for trial, pursuant to Cal. Penal Code 1382, was May 7. On May 1, Smith sought a writ of mandate in the court of appeal to stay further trial court proceedings against him. The court of appeal directed the superior court to enter an order dismissing the information pending against Smith. The Supreme Court reversed, holding (1) under section 1382, when one codefendant's trial is continued to a date within section 1382's ten-day grace period, the state's strong interests in joinder provide good cause to continue the trial for all properly joined codefendants to the same date within the ten-day period; and (2) therefore, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in continuing Smith's trial to a date within the ten-day period in order to permit Smith and Sims to be joined in a single trial.
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