Does Prisoner’s ‘Letter of Availability’ to Court Clerk Trigger Speedy Trial Time Limit on Pending Charges?
State of Ohio v. Douglas Centafanti, Case no. 2007-1744 5th District Cout of Appeals (Stark County) ISSUE: Does delivery of a prisoner’s letter directed to a clerk of courts and municipal and county prosecutors advising them of his current place of incarceration and availability to answer pending criminal charges or warrants constitute “substantial compliance” with R.C. 2941.401 and trigger the running of the speedy-trial time limit within which the prisoner must be brought to trial on the pending charges? BACKGROUND: Under Ohio’s “speedy trial” statute, R.C. 2945.71, if the state fails to bring a defendant to trial on a criminal charge within a specified number of days after he is arrested or a complaint is entered against him on that charge, the charge must be dismissed. The statute provides for certain circumstances under which the running of the speedy-trial time limit after arrest or indictment is stopped or “tolled.” One of those circumstances is when court officials are unable t
