Mirenda

We are presented with a case where 26 years passed between the time the criminal charges were filed and the time when the prosecution actually started. The extraordinary delay in this case is made more remarkable because defendant was actually arrested on the criminal complaint in 1982 and agreed to waive extradition. It was the prosecution that declined to return defendant for trial. Defendant was then released and the prosecution changed its arrest warrant to “California only,” apparently to prevent defendant from again being arrested outside this state. Thereafter, the prosecution took no steps to prosecute this case until defendant, notified by the Social Security Administration of the existence of the warrant, contacted San Diego authorities.

We find the quarter-century delay not only remarkable, but on this record, we find it denied defendant the right to a speedy trial under the California Constitution.

In this case, we reject the People’s appeal and affirm the trial court’s judgment of dismissal entered after granting Gregory Louis Mirenda’s motion to dismiss his 2007 prosecution for the March 1981 attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon on Willie A.…