Court Opinion

ID: 9571102
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:29:04.588257+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:28:03.696226
License: Public Domain

Pope, Judge,
concurring specially.
I agree that pursuant to the facts of this case the request of the defendant’s attorney for leaves of absence during the terms in which defendant requested to be tried did not constitute an affirmative act which would waive defendant’s request for a speedy trial. In this case a jury was present at other times during these two terms which could have tried the defendant. As the majority opinion points out, the fact that the term of court expired before defendant’s case was reached was not due to any affirmative act of the defendant or her attorney.
However, I would caution that an attorney’s request for leave of absence may not be used as a manipulative tool to preclude the trial of the defendant’s case within the time provided by OCGA § 17-7-170. If, for example, after the publication of the court’s criminal trial calendar the defendant’s attorney requested leave of absence during the entire period or periods scheduled for criminal trials, then the court might properly find that the request for speedy trial was waived because the state’s failure to try the defendant within the requisite time was due to the voluntary absence of defendant.