## Facts

- Police arrested Ronald G. Weaver on July 2, 1999, on an outstanding weapons warrant.
- During a search incident to arrest, officers found crack cocaine packaged in multiple units and $265 in cash, including twelve $20 bills.
- The State charged Weaver on July 12, 1999, with one count of possession of cocaine with intent to sell.
- Weaver was arraigned on November 2, 1999, waived preliminary hearing, and trial was set for April 26, 2000.
- Trial was continued multiple times between April and September 2000; at least one continuance was requested by defense counsel due to lack of preparedness, over Weaver’s objection.
- Weaver’s jury trial began September 26, 2000, about 14–15 months after arrest, and he was convicted.
- The Kansas Court of Appeals affirmed; the Kansas Supreme Court granted review limited to the constitutional speedy-trial claim.

## Issues

1. Whether the approximately 14–15-month delay between arrest and trial violated Weaver’s constitutional right to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment and the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights.

## Decision

- The Kansas Supreme Court affirmed the conviction.
- The court held the delay was not presumptively prejudicial under the circumstances.
- Because presumptive prejudice was not shown, the court did not proceed to weigh the remaining speedy-trial factors.

## Legal Principles

- A constitutional speedy-trial claim is reviewed as a question of law with unlimited (de novo) review.
- Courts apply a four-factor, case-by-case test: (1) length of delay, (2) reason for delay, (3) defendant’s assertion of the right, and (4) prejudice.
- The length of delay operates as a threshold requirement; absent a presumptively prejudicial delay, courts need not analyze the other factors.
- Whether a delay is presumptively prejudicial depends on the circumstances of the particular case; time alone is not determinative.
- Delay attributable to the defense, and the defendant’s custody status on other matters, may affect the constitutional assessment of delay and prejudice.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that, in a routine single-count felony drug prosecution with mixed causes for continuances, a nearly 15-month delay from arrest to trial was not presumptively prejudicial, so Weaver’s constitutional speedy-trial claim failed and his conviction was affirmed.


State v. Weaver, 276 Kan. 504, 78 P.3d 397 (Kan. 2003)