State Ex Rel. Stines v. Locke

Caplan, Justice:

The single issue for resolution in this original proceeding in prohibition is whether the “three term rule,” embodied in W. Va. Code, 1931, 62-3-21, as amended, prohibits the state from trying the petitioner in the circumstances hereinafter set forth. That statute provides, in pertinent part:

Every person charged by presentment or indictment with a felony or misdemeanor, and remanded to a court of competent jurisdiction for trial, shall be forever discharged from prosecution for the offense, if there be three regular terms of such court, after the ... indictment is found…