STATE OF NEW JERSEY VS. D.F.W. (20-01-0101, CAMDEN COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (RECORD IMPOUNDED) (A-2220-20)
The court addresses two Criminal Justice Reform Act provisions affecting a detained defendant's speedy trial rights.
First, the Act requires a defendant's release (subject to exceptions and conditions) if trial does not commence after detention of 180 days (not counting excludable time), but the Act directs a court to extend that period upon the return of a superseding indictment. N.J.S.A. 2A:162-22(a)(2)(b)(ii). Here, the trial judge mistakenly added another 180 days to defendant's detention, without considering the differences between the two indictments, and if the prosecutor could have obtained the superseding indictment sooner, as Rule 3:25-4(f) requires. Those two factors require a court to weigh the State's need for an extension against the unfairness to a defendant of granting one. Here, the prosecutor announced nineteen days after the superseding indictment's return that she was ready to proceed to trial. Therefore, an extension beyond nineteen days was unwarranted, because the State did not need more than that to prepare for trial.
Second, the Act requires a defendant's release (subject to conditions) after two years of detention (not counting excludable time attributable only to the defendant) if the prosecutor is not ready to proceed to trial. N.J.S.A. 2A:162-22(a)(2)(a); R. 3:25-4(d). Before the two years elapsed, the prosecutor announced she was ready to proceed to trial and a trial date was set. Then, the Supreme Court suspended criminal jury trials because of COVID-19. Defendant sought release after the two years elapsed during the shutdown, contending the prosecutor could not be ready if the court was not. The trial judge denied release and the court affirms. The two-year limit is measured by the prosecutor's readiness, not the trial court's. Defendant was not entitled to release under the "two-year clock" although, because of the pandemic, no court could conduct the trial the prosecutor was ready to try.
