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State v. Thompson

The DUI defendant cited no authority supporting her proposition that her right to an independent chemical test of her blood survived her waiver of that right at the scene.

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Lauren Lynn Thompson brought a plea in bar concerning DUI and other charges against her on the ground that she had been deprived of her constitutional right to a speedy trial. On appeal from the trial court’s grant of that plea, the State argues that the grant was error because Thompson herself was substantially responsible for any delay in getting to trial and could not have suffered any prejudice as a result of the destruction of the blood sample taken at the scene. We agree with the second of these contentions, and also find that the trial court did not make sufficiently explicit findings of fact on the timeliness of Thompson’s assertion of her speedy trial right. We therefore vacate the trial court’s judgment and remand for reconsideration.

We examine Thompson’s constitutional speedy-trial claim under the four part test established in Barker v. Wingo, 407 U. S. 514 92 SCt 2182, 33 LE2d 101 1972, considering 1 the length of the delay, 2 the reason for the delay, 3 the defendant’s assertion of the right, and 4 the prejudice to the defendant. See Brown v. State, 264 Ga. 803, 804 2 450 SE2d 821 1994. Johnson v. State, 268 Ga. 416, 417 2 490 SE2d 91 1997. The factors should be considered together in a balancing test of the conduct of the prosecution and the defendant. Nusser v. State, 275 Ga. App. 896, 897 622 SE2d 105 2005 citations and punctuation omitted. Absent an abuse of discretion, we must affirm the trial court’s balancing and weighing of the four Barker factors. Id. However, when a trial court ‘has clearly erred in some of its findings of fact and/or has misapplied the law to some degree, the deference owed the trial court’s ultimate ruling is diminished.’ State v. Porter, 288 Ga. 524, 526 2 a 705 SE2d 636 2011, quoting Williams v. State, 277 Ga. 598, 601 1 e 592 SE2d 848 2004.

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