CONVICTION VACATED – 8th Appellate District Court of Appeals
Mar 03, 2016OUTCOME: Conviction Vacated
In July 1994 – Client was accused of rape and kidnapping. Client was not indicted until almost 20 years later in 2014. One week prior to trial, counsel filed a motion to dismiss based upon prejudici ... al pre-indictment delay. The trial court refused to hear the motion and the Client was convicted by a jury. Attorney Smith appealed Mr. Dickerson’s conviction based upon ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to file a timely motion to dismiss on the ground of prejudicial pre-indictment delay. The Court found that there was a reasonable probability that the motion would have been granted if it had been timely filed. The court found that “simply failing or refusing to take action for a substantial period of time, is not justifiable investigative delay.”
