State v. Kahawai

*206OPINION OF THE COURT BY

HEEN, J.

The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the lower court erred in denying Defendant-Appellant Ida Alohalani Kahawai’s (Defendant) motion to dismiss for violation of her speedy trial rights under Rule 48(b), Hawai‘i Rules of Penal Procedure (HRPP) (1977).1 The specific question is whether the trial court correctly *207concluded that court congestion due to exceptional circumstances supported the exclusion of a sufficient number of days from the total elapsed time from Defendant’s arrest to her trial so that Defendant was, as a matter of law, brought to trial…