In the seminal case of Barker v. Wingo, the United States Supreme Court establish a balancing test to determine whether a delay in bringing a criminal prosecution to resolution violated a citizen’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. In that case, the Court identified four factors to be used to determine whether a defendant's right to a speedy trial had been violated. They were: (1) the length of the delay; (2) the reason for the delay; (3) the defendant's assertion of his right for a speedy trial; and (4) the existence of any prejudice. Recently, the Appellate Division was required to review a drunk driving/DWI case where there was a delay of 296 day between defendant’s arrest and the date of his trial and another 798 days between the date he filed his appeal and the adjudication of that appeal.

In analyzing these four factors, the court first observed that the reason for the delay was inordinate and that it was grounded in large part by the fault of both the prosecution and the court system. Specifically, the prosecution was unable to readily produce the dashboard videotape that depicted events at the arrest site. Thereafter, the local court failed to properly prepare the transcripts necessary to assist defendant’s de novo review to the Law Division. To further complicate matters, the Law Division dismissed defendant’s appeal without sending defendant notice of its action. Notwithstanding,  this inexcusable delay and neglect, the Appellate Division noted that defendant had not asserted his right to a speedy trial, which was a significant component of the Barker factors. It also concluded that there was no prejudice resulting from the delay in adjudicating the case. Resultantly, it affirmed the trial court's decision, which refused to dismiss defendant’s prosecution based on speedy trial principles.