State v. Whiting

We confirm today our earlier pronouncement in State v. Luck (1984), 15 Ohio St.3d 150, 15 OBR 296, 472 N.E.2d 1097, that where a defendant moves to dismiss an indictment and presents evidence establishing substantial prejudice resulting from preindictment delay, the state bears the burden of producing evidence of a justifiable reason for the delay. According to the Luck burden-shifting analysis, the trial court here erred when it denied defendant’s motion to dismiss. Because the evidence presented at the hearing on the motion entitled the defendant to a dismissal of the indictment, the later…