Inside the Indiana Court of Appeals courtroom at the Indiana Statehouse.
Many Hoosiers accused of serious crimes seek to delay their trials as long as possible, often in the hope of finding exculpatory evidence or negotiating a better plea deal with the prosecutor.
The case of Michigan City's Kyle Dilley, however, suggests sometimes the best legal strategy may be to demand the "speedy trial" guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and to insist on it no matter what.
On Wednesday, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed Dilley's four felony convictions for drug dealing and drug possession when the three-judge panel unanimously determined Dilley's speedy trial request wasn't fulfilled by LaPorte Superior Judge Michael Bergerson.
According to court records, Dilley, 29, was arrested April 6, 2018 by Michigan City police after officers found Dilley and a passenger seemingly passed out in a badly parked car near 10th and Maple streets.
A subsequent legal search of the car found methamphetamine, morphine, heroin, marijuana, digital scales and plastic baggies, records show.
At his first court hearing on April 10, Dilley requested a speedy trial, and his trial was set for June 18 — one day shy of the 70-day deadline for a speedy trial to begin, according to court records.
The final pre-trial conference was held May 31. All sides said they were ready for trial, though the prosecution said it still was waiting on official test results from the state police laboratory confirming the drugs found in Dilley's car, records show.
But one day later prosecutors requested Bergerson delay the trial.
They told the judge the state police lab was unlikely to complete its testing by June 18, since the Lowell facility was understaffed and only able to process about 950 of its 1,500 monthly testing requests, according to court records.
Records show Dilley objected to the delay and reasserted his right to a speedy trial within 70 days.
Bergerson granted the prosecution's request, a jury trial was held Aug. 13 and 14, Dilley was convicted of the drug crimes and he was ordered to serve an enhanced sentence of 12 years in prison due to a prior drug dealing conviction, records show.
In his appeal, Dilley argued the trial delay infringed on his constitutional rights, especially because the prosecution's June 1 continuance request failed to acknowledge the Michigan City police hadn't even delivered the suspected drugs to the lab yet.
The drugs ultimately were submitted for testing June 4, according to court records.
Appeals Judge Patricia Riley, a Rensselaer native, said under Indiana criminal trial rule 4(D) a trial judge only can grant a prosecution continuance request when a speedy trial demand is pending if "reasonable effort has been made to procure" any missing evidence.
In this case, Riley said because the drug testing process hadn't even begun when the continuance motion was filed, "it cannot be said that reasonable efforts had been made to procure the evidence."
"We conclude that Dilley has demonstrated that the trial court's grant of the rule 4(D) continuance under the facts and circumstances of this case constituted prima facie error," Riley said. "Dilley was entitled to discharge of the charges against him."
For now, Dilley remains incarcerated at a state prison in Pendleton, while Attorney General Curtis Hill Jr. decides over the next 45 days whether to ask the Indiana Supreme Court to consider overruling the Court of Appeals decision.
