{"id":1116,"date":"2012-01-12T01:28:05","date_gmt":"2012-01-12T01:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/when-prosecutors-fail-prosecute-charges-can-be-dropped\/"},"modified":"2020-10-30T20:49:24","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T20:49:24","slug":"when-prosecutors-fail-prosecute-charges-can-be-dropped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/when-prosecutors-fail-prosecute-charges-can-be-dropped\/","title":{"rendered":"When Prosecutors Fail To Prosecute, Charges Can Be Dropped"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flockoflegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/lisa-headshot.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-1133\" title=\"lisa headshot\" src=\"http:\/\/www.flockoflegals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/lisa-headshot-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>A defendant who has not been brought to trial within a reasonable time may move the court for an Order to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that his right to a speedy trial has been violated.\u00a0 The basis for this is found in both the United States Constitution and in California state law.\u00a0 The constitution states that everyone has the right to a speedy and public trial.\u00a0 This right is then enforceable by states by the virtue of the due process clause in the 14<sup>th<\/sup> amendment.<\/p>\n<p>When the State (Prosecutors \/ DAs) delays in filing a complaint after an arrest, it becomes prejudicial for the defense, triggering a possible argument to be made that the case should therefore be dismissed.\u00a0 In misdemeanors, the State has a one year statute-of-limitations.\u00a0 This means that from the date of the incident, the government has a year to decide whether they want to press charges against a Defendant.\u00a0 Similarly, when there is a delay in bringing the defendant to trial after formal charges have been filed, the Defendant can claim that his right to a speedy trial has been infringed upon, justifying a dismissal in the case.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Factors considered: <\/span><\/p>\n<p>A presiding judge will generally look to factors set forth in <em>Barker v. Wingo<\/em> (1972) 407 U.S. 514, 530 to see whether a dismissal of the case is warranted.\u00a0 Factors include: (1) the length of the delay in bringing the case (or the Defendant) to court, (2) The reason for such a delay, (3) Whether or not the defendant asserted his right to a speedy trial, and (4) whether the Defendant has suffered any prejudice as a result to the State\u2019s delay.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The court weighs in all four factors and makes a ruling on the motion.<\/p>\n<p>Your rights are important to us at the Law Offices of Lisa Wong.\u00a0 If you have been charged with a crime and want to know more about the \u201cSerna\u201d motion (Speedy trial motion) and whether one is appropriate in your case, contact the Law Offices of Lisa Wong today for a free consultation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Law Offices of Lisa Wong<\/p>\n<p>858-609-9664<\/p>\n<p>lisawong@lisawonglaw.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A defendant who has not been brought to trial within a reasonable time may move the court for an Order to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that his right to a speedy trial has been violated.\u00a0 The basis for this is found in both the United States Constitution and in California state law.\u00a0 The&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california-criminal-law-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5632,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1116\/revisions\/5632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markagallagher.com\/socaldefenselawyers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}