In a case issued Thursday, September 27th, the Court of Criminal Appeals removed a trick we have been dealing with for a couple years across the State.
Many prosecutors have dealt with this situation. A driver is arrested. The case lingers for a while in Sessions Court. The defendant waives his right to a preliminary and binds his case over to the grand jury. It takes a while for the case to come out of the Grand Jury. An Indictment is issued and it is more that a year from the date of the arrest.
Defense attorneys then file a motion to dismiss the case, because the prosecution has not commenced within the one year statute of limitations.
Most Judges deny those motions, recognizing that the case was commenced in Sessions Court by the issuance of the warrant.
In State v Joyner, the CCA reverses the decision of a Trial Court, which bought the argument. Judge Wedemyer for the Court wrote:
"The trial court dismissed the charges finding that the State had not commenced prosecution before the expiration of the statute of limitations. After a thorough review of the record and relevant authorities, we conclude that the trial court improperly dismissed the charges because the Defendant waived his preliminary hearing and agreed to allow the case to be bound over to the grand jury before
the expiration of the statute of limitations."
Read the case at:
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