State v. Storkus

The trial court committed error when it concluded that good cause existed to delay Storkus’s trial past the 90-day statutory deadline since the state failed to show sufficient good cause for such a delay.

Storkus assaulted a correctional officer while incarcerated at Two Rivers Correctional Institution (TRCI). He was subsequently found guilty of assaulting a public safety officer, under ORS 163.208. Prior to trial, Storkus invoked his statutory right to a speedy trial by request that the trial court have a trial within 90 days of his request. However, the trial court held Storkus’s trial 93 days after his request was received because of a calendaring error. When Storkus moved to dismiss the case for failing to follow his request to a speedy trial, and the trial court eventually denied the motion holding that the delay was the result of good cause. On appeal, the Court of Appeals found it was in error for the trial court to have concluded that there was good cause for the delay in scheduling defendant’s trial because there was no information to show good cause absent from evidence showing “the existence of a panoply of hearings is any explanation of why those particular hearings caused the trial court any cognizable difficulty or made it impracticable to hold defendant’s trial within the statutory period.” That was insufficient for good cause. Reversed and remanded for entry of a judgment of dismissal.