{1} Defendant Richard O’Neal appeals the district court’s denial of his pretrial motion to dismiss for violation of his constitutional right to a speedy trial. We address (1) whether Defendant waived that constitutional right and (2) whether the right was violated. We hold that Defendant did not waive his constitutional right to a speedy trial but that the right was not violated. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s order denying Defendant’s motion to dismiss for violation of his right to a speedy trial.
BACKGROUND
{2} Defendant was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI) on July 16, 2003. On July 17, 2003, a criminal complaint charging aggravated DWI was filed against him in magistrate court. The same day, Defendant posted a $1700 surety bond, was released subject to conditions, and was ordered to appear on July 21, 2003. The conditions of Defendant’s release included, among other things, his agreement not to leave the State of New Mexico without prior permission of the court. On or about July 23, 2003, Defendant was notified that a pretrial conference was set for September 3, 2003. An amended criminal complaint was filed in the magistrate court case on July 30, 2003, charging Defendant with aggravated DWI fourth or subsequent offense based on prior DWI convictions. The aggravated DWI charge was a fourth degree felony.
{4} Defendant filed a motion to continue the April 9, 2004, hearing on April 2, 2004. This motion stated, “Undersigned counsel does not object and does hereby agree to a waiver of any time limitation period and/or an extension thereof[ ] [f]rom the New Mexico Supreme Court.” The court granted this motion on April 7, 2004. On May 12, 2004, the court rescheduled the hearing on Defendant’s motion to suppress for July 6, 2004, and also set the case for jury trial on September 2, 2004. The court heard the motion to suppress as scheduled and filed an order denying the motion on July 15, 2004.
{5} On August 30, 2004, Defendant filed a motion to continue the September 2, 2004, trial in order to retain substitute counsel, and substitute counsel entered his appearance the next day. On September 1, 2004, the court entered a stipulated order for continuance of the September 2 trial date. New notices for a pretrial conference for February 14, 2005, and a jury trial on March 15, 2005, were entered on September 20, 2004. The pretrial conference was eventually moved to February 17, 2005, and was held on that date, but the jury trial set for March 15, 2005, was continued due to inclement weather.
{6} The jury trial was rescheduled for August 25, 2005, but the court declared a mistrial after jury selection but before the jury was sworn. Defendant filed a motion to reconsider the order of mistrial on September 30, 2005, the State responded on October 6, 2005, and a hearing was held on November 10, 2005. The motion was denied on December 8, 2005, and on February 27, 2006, the court set the case for jury trial on August 15, 2006.
{7} Throughout these proceedings, the State filed for and the Supreme Court granted four six-month extensions at various intervals. See Rule 5-604(D) NMRA. The first three Supreme Court orders extended deadlines through October 18, 2004, April 16, 2005, and October 13, 2005. After the district court on September 1, 2005, granted a new six-month-time limit following the mistrial on that date, see Rule 5-604(C), the Supreme Court again, on March 3, 2006, granted a six-month extension through August 25, 2006. In addition to his initial waiver, it appears that Defendant either agreed to or did not object to each of the six-month extensions, with the exception of the last one.
{8} Defendant filed a motion to dismiss for violation of his constitutional right to a speedy trial on July 24, 2006, and on August 2, 2006, he requested a hearing on the motion. In a hearing held on August 15, 2006, the date which had been set for trial, the court heard Defendant’s motion to dismiss and Defendant’s plea to the charge against him. The district court found the delay in bringing the case to trial to be presumptively prejudicial thereby triggering a weighing of the factors in Barker v. Wingo,
{9} Defendant contends on appeal that the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss for violation of his right to a speedy trial. He asserts that he did not waive his constitutional right to a speedy trial and that, absent a waiver, the district court would have found a violation of that right.
DISCUSSION
I. Waiver
{10} In the district court, Defendant argued that his waiver was not sufficient because there was no affirmative waiver by him in the record.
{11} A defendant may waive fundamental constitutional rights. See State v. Pacheco,
{12} “Waiver is an intentional abandonment of a known right, and the burden of proof to establish waiver falls upon the [prosecution].” County of Los Alamos v. Beckman,
{13} Our Supreme Court has recognized that the district court bears a weighty responsibility to ensure that a defendant’s waiver of a constitutional right was knowingly and voluntarily made. Padilla,
II. Speedy Trial
{14} “The [United States] Supreme Court has declared the [S]ixth [A]mendment right to a speedy trial to be a fundamental constitutional right that applies to states through the [F]ourteenth [A]mendment.” Zurla v. State,
{15} The dates of activity related to Defendant’s speedy trial rights in this case are undisputed. Application of the law to those dates in order to perform an analysis of the Barker factors is where the parties differ. On appeal, a reviewing court is required to independently balance the Barker factors considered by the lower court. Zurla,
{16} Before balancing the Barker factors, a court must find a threshold showing of presumptively prejudicial delay. Salandre v. State,
Length of the Delay
{17} The fact that a delay is presumptively prejudicial “does not necessarily mean that ... the length of delay[ ] will weigh against the State.” Coffin,
{18} In calculating the length of delay, the State argues that Defendant’s speedy trial rights did not attach until the felony charges were filed in district court. We see no reason to decide whether the trigger was the date of Defendant’s arrest, the date he was bound over for trial in district court, the date he was charged in district court, or the date he waived arraignment in the district court. The time the State wants to exclude is inconsequential for the purposes of the assessment we need to make as to the length of delay. See State v. Hayes,
{19} The mere circumstance of a significantly lengthy delay is insufficient in itself to establish a speedy trial violation and is to be balanced against the other factors. See Barker,
Reasons for the Delay
{20} “The reasons for a period of the delay may either heighten or temper the prejudice to the defendant caused by the length of the delay.” Id. ¶ 13. We allocate the reasons for the delay to each side and determine the weight attributable to each reason, with the knowledge that the State has the duty to make a good faith and diligent effort to bring a defendant to trial. Laney,
{21} From the continuance of the first trial through the continuance of the fourth, Supreme Court extensions of the six-month rule deadlines were obtained based on Defendant’s waiver and, except for the last extension, with no objection by Defendant. Another extension that was ordered by the district court and that overlapped one six-month extension resulted from the mistrial. Although Defendant appears to have objected to the last Supreme Court-approved extension, we see no reason why his waiver did not also apply to that extension. Thus, a very substantial consumption of time resulted from the vacation of trial dates or trial continuances, none of which occurred through any fault attributable to the State. To be sure, the first two continuances were caused by Defendant and are to be weighed against Defendant. See Grissom,
{22} How to evaluate the six-month rule extensions is more complex. We believe, however, that Defendant’s waiver agreement and his ongoing consent or failure to object to six-month extensions weigh against Defendant in the speedy trial evaluation. State v. McCrary,
{23} Some of the delay in the present case was also the result of the time it took the court to set new trial dates and the length of each continuance. The primary burden to assure that cases are brought to trial is upon both the courts and the prosecutors. Barker,
{24} In the present ease, the parties did not develop in the district court, nor did the court explain, the reason for the length of time chosen for retrial each time a trial was vacated. Except for one discussion in August 2005 when the court declared a mistrial, nothing in the record reflects discussions about the court’s docket. In that August 2005 discussion, the court stated that it would try to accommodate the parties, but its calendar was “horrendous.” Defendant does not specifically argue that the court or the State breached a duty to bring Defendant to trial by failing to schedule trial more expeditiously. Under these circumstances, without more than is in the record before us, it appears that Defendant acquiesced in the rescheduling and that the court’s docket was likely overcrowded. Downey,
Assertion of Right
{25} “A defendant does not have a duty to bring himself to trial, and a speedy trial violation may be found even when the defendant has not asserted the right.” Zurla,
{26} Here, Defendant did not assert his speedy trial right until twenty-two days before the August 15, 2006, trial date, which was just over thirty-four months after charges were filed in district court. He then waited until thirteen days before August 15, 2006, to request a hearing on the motion. We hold that Defendant’s assertion of his speedy trial right does not weigh in his favor.
Prejudice to Defendant
{27} Prejudice should be evaluated in light of the interest of the defendant, which the right was designed to protect. Barker identified three such interests: (1) to prevent oppressive pretrial incarceration, (2) to minimize anxiety and concern of the accused, and (3) to limit the possibility that the defense would be impaired.
{28} Defendant hardly argues actual prejudice. He argues that the State has not rebutted the presumption of prejudice based on the long delay and that the probability of prejudice thereby matured into actual prejudice. He also argues that the restriction of
{29} We hold that Defendant has not shown prejudice, much less undue prejudice. See Coffin,
Balancing of Factors
{30} The time involved is long, but this is not a particularly close case. On balance, the factors do not weigh in Defendant’s favor, but rather weigh against him. While the total delay of thirty-seven months is “presumptively extraordinary” and therefore presumptively prejudicial, Maddox,
CONCLUSION
{31} We hold that Defendant did not waive any right to a speedy trial. We further hold that an independent balancing of the Barker factors does not weigh to any measurable extent in Defendant’s favor and that Defendant’s right to a speedy trial was not violated. Therefore, we affirm the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to dismiss for violation of his speedy trial right. See Sam v. Estate of Sam,
{32} IT IS SO ORDERED.
