State v. Harris

— Five months after pleading guilty to the *37charge of driving with no valid operator’s license (NVOL), Defendant Thomas Harris was charged and found guilty of taking a motor vehicle without permission (TMV). Both charges arose from the same traffic stop. Defendant claims the State violated the speedy trial rule, JuCR 7.8, by bringing the TMV charge five months after the NVOL charge. The Court of Appeals upheld Defendant’s TMV conviction. We reverse and order the dismissal of the TMV charge.

On November 26, 1993, just after midnight, a police officer pulled over a Datsun pickup truck for driving…