Cawley v. State

Because the trial court would have been constrained to deny Cawley’s motion to dismiss had it correctly weighed the reason for the pretrial delay factor of the Barker-Doggett analysis, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court. Therefore, I respectfully dissent to Division 3 of the majority opinion.

It is well settled that “[a] trial court exercises substantial discretion in applying the Barker balancing test.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.) State v. Pickett, 288 Ga. 674, 679 (2) (d) (706 SE2d 561) (2011).

If the trial court significantly misapplies the law or clearly errs in a…