State v. Thompson

The trial court properly dismissed the defendant's indictment because Columbia county failed to bring her to trial within 180 days of her IAD request for final disposition of all pending charges in Georgia.

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A trial court dismissed a Columbia County indictment against Kristen Thompson on the ground that the State had failed to bring her to trial when she returned from imprisonment in South Carolina to face charges in Lincoln County. The State appeals, and we affirm. The State has failed to prove by citations to the record that the trial court’s account of the case is incorrect. See Court of Appeals Rule 25 a 1. In March 2000, while Thompson was imprisoned in South Carolina, both Lincoln County and Columbia County filed detainers against her pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, OCGA § 42-6-20. Columbia County’s detainer concerned a 1998 indictment for terroristic threats and acts. On May 17, 2001, Thompson notified the Toombs Judicial Circuit prosecutor in writing that she was imprisoned in South Carolina and that she was now making “a request for final disposition of all untried indictments, information or complaints on the basis of which detainers have been lodged against me from your state.” See OCGA § 42-6-20, Article III a. Lincoln County is a part of the Toombs Judicial Circuit, while Columbia County is a part of the Augusta Judicial Circuit. See OCGA § 15-6-1 5, 40.

On May 25, 2001, Thompson signed a waiver of extradition from South Carolina to Georgia. On June 21, the South Carolina authorities delivered Thompson to Georgia, and she entered a guilty plea on the Lincoln County charges the same day. Instead of being transported to Columbia County to answer the pending charges against her there, however, Thompson was returned to the custody of the South Carolina authorities.

State v. Thompson

The trial court properly dismissed the defendant's indictment because Columbia county failed to bring her to trial within 180 days of her IAD request for final disposition of all pending charges in Georgia.

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