Kessel

The People have appealed from an order dismissing an information which charged respondent Frank Roger Kessel with battery upon a peace officer (Pen. Code, §§ 242, 243) and drunk driving (Veh. Code, § 23102, subd. (a)).

Upon respondent’s plea of not guilty, the cause was set for trial on January 13, 1976; there was no objection by the defense, though the information had been filed on November 10, 1975.

Continuances were had, either at the request of the defense, or without objection, until February 2, 1976. On that date, a seven-day continuance was granted to the People, without objection. On February 9, 1976, an additional seven-day continuance, requested by the People, was denied. The information was then dismissed upon motion of the defendant, and the present appeal followed.

The February 9 request for an additional seven-day continuance was made on the ground that the deputy district attorney assigned to the case was presently unavailable. "After the request was denied, the case was assigned to another department for trial. A delay of several hours ensued. Later an additional delay of some hours was granted to the district attorney because he had no available…