Harwood v. Lofton

George Rose Smith, Justice.

On December 9, 1983, the petitioner was stopped and arrested for DWI. His resistance to the officers resulted in an additional charge of second-degree battery. The DWI charge, a misdemeanor, was promptly tried in municipal court. Petitioner’s appeal from that conviction was consolidated in the Pulaski Circuit Court, Fourth Division, with the pending felony charge.

On September 4,1985, after the case had been transferred to the First Division, petitioner filed a motion to dismiss for want of a speedy trial. By then the lapse of time since the arrest was almost 21…