State v. Murr

Under ORS 135.747, “period of time” to bring a defendant to trial begins when the information is filed with the court and not with the service of citations.

Defendant appealed his convictions of driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, and two counts of second-degree criminal mischief. The issue on appeal was whether the “period of time” to bring Defendant to trial under ORS 135.747 began with the service of citations to Defendant or with the filing of the information. In this case, Defendant was served with the citations as a result of his accident on October 3rd and 4th of 2007, but the filing of the information by the district attorney did not occur until two years later. ORS 135.747 requires that a defendant who is charged with a crime must be brought to trial within a reasonable period of time. Defendant argued that the trial court erred when it failed to dismiss his case for unreasonable delay under this statute because the “period of time” of his prosecution exceeded two years and that timeframe is unreasonable under the circumstances. The Court of Appeals ruled that the “period of time” to bring Defendant to trial under the statute began when the information was filed and not with the service of citations, therefore the trial court did not err in failing to dismiss the case. Affirmed.