A three-year delay between a complaint and an arraignment did not violate the defendant’s constitutional right to a speedy trial, and should not have been dismissed, the Court of Appeal ruled Feb. 10.
The published ruling comes in the case against Richard Martinez, accused by prosecutors of working without a valid contractor’s license. Prosecutors alleged he was paid a total of $9,000 in 2017 out of a $27,000 pool construction project in Lake Elsinore, but failed to properly excavate the pool, and eventually abandoned the project.
In January 2018, prosecutors charged Martinez with felony grand theft, and misdemeanor charges of acting as a contractor without a license, requiring
