Cartez L. Cunningham, Appellant-Defendant v. State of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff (2025)

MEMORANDUM DECISION

[1] Cartez L. Cunningham appeals his convictions for Level 6 felony maintaining a common nuisance, Level 6 felony possession of a legend drug, Level 6 felony possession of a narcotic drug, Class A misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, and Class A misdemeanor resisting law enforcement. Cunningham raises a single issue for our review, namely, whether the delay between the State's filing of its charges against him in June 2018 and his jury trial in August 2024 violated his constitutional or Criminal Rule 4 rights to a speedy trial.

[2] However, Cunningham never sought to enforce his speedy trial rights in the trial court, nor did he timely object to the trial court's proceedings with respect to those rights. He has therefore not preserved his arguments for appellate review. See Curtis v. State, 948 N.E.2d 1143, 1147-48 (Ind. 2011) (noting that unpreserved speedy trial arguments are not available for appellate review). Further, he does not argue fundamental error in his initial brief to our Court, and, thus, any possible argument under that doctrine is also not properly before us. See id. at 1148 (“parties may not raise ․ fundamental error[ ] for the first time in a reply brief”).

[3] Indeed, as our Supreme Court has long made clear:

Appellant concedes ․ that the speedy trial issue he now argues on appeal was not raised in [the trial court]. The State therefore contends that Appellant waived any error on this issue ․ A speedy trial right may be waived if a defendant fails to timely complain about any deprivation thereof. Moreover, the deprivation of an accused's speedy trial right does not constitute fundamental error. Appellant did not raise this issue before the trial court ․ Accordingly, we find nothing to review.

Locke v. State, 461 N.E.2d 1090, 1092 (Ind. 1984) (citations omitted).

[4] For all of these reasons, we affirm Cunningham's convictions

Mathias, Judge.

Judges May and Bradford concur. May, J., and Bradford, J., concur.