DWI Dismissed For Failure To Move Case In A Speedy Matter
12/14/09--In State v. Tsetsekas, the Appellate Court held that a DWI trial delay of 344 days constituted a failure to provide a speedy trial to the defendant and warranted a dismissal of the DWI charge. The speedy trial violation resulted because of numerous and unnecessary Court appearances by defense counsel--partially caused by the town prosecutor being unprepared several times and numerous failures to appear by the State Police witnesses. In this DWI case, the defense appeared seven to ten times at court and the DWI case was continually delayed because evidence wasn't turned over to the defendant or the State Police failed to appear in Court.
This case is a refreshing change for DWI attorneys such as myself who are continuously pressed by Courts to resolve our DWI cases in the sixty days preferenced by the Administrative Office of the Courts. It should be noted that it is still a tough hill to climb to succeed in a speedy trial context, but it can be done where the prior appearances and reasons for the Court postponements are documented.
