State of Alabama v. Jeri Bonar, CR-2023-0629

Bonar was arrested in April 2015 on forged-instrument and theft charges and was later released to a substance-abuse facility while seeking mental-health court admission. 1
After Bonar failed to appear for a December 2015 mental-health-court hearing, the court issued an alias warrant and later bound the cases over to the grand jury in May 2017. 2
The State reported in February 2018 that Bonar had been indicted and moved to recall the alias writ, but Bonar still did not appear for years. 3
Bonar moved to dismiss on speedy-trial grounds in December 2021 and again in August 2023, and Judge Pickett granted the motion after a hearing on the written record. 4
The State appealed, arguing both that the circuit court lacked authority to dismiss and that the speedy-trial analysis was wrong. 5
On return to remand, Judge Pickett found she was acting as duty judge in circuit court when she ruled on the motion. 6

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Which court dismissed Bonar's indictment? 7	Bonar said the circuit court dismissed the case.	State said the district court acted, so dismissal was void.	Circuit court dismissed the indictment; district court lacked jurisdiction after bind-over. 8
Did the delay violate Bonar's speedy-trial right? 9	Bonar argued the eight-year delay required dismissal.	State argued the delay was mostly negligent and caused no prejudice.	No. Delay was presumptively prejudicial, but Bonar showed no actual or presumed prejudice. 10

Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (U.S. 1972) (establishes the four-factor speedy-trial balancing test 11)
Doggett v. United States, 505 U.S. 647 (U.S. 1992) (government negligence can support presumed prejudice after long delay 12)
Ex parte Walker, 928 So. 2d 259 (Ala. 2005) (applies Barker in Alabama and discusses presumptive prejudice and negligence 13)
State v. MacGrady, 410 So. 3d 1158 (Ala. Crim. App. 2024) (similar Jefferson County speedy-trial case holding the circuit court acted as circuit court 14)
State v. Brown, 259 So. 3d 655 (Ala. Crim. App. 2018) (district court loses authority once a case is bound over to the grand jury 15)
Horton v. State, 369 So. 3d 1128 (Ala. Crim. App. 2022) (district court loses limited jurisdiction after bind-over; discusses pretrial jurisdiction 16)
Quinnie v. State, 382 So. 3d 1275 (Ala. Crim. App. 2022) (pandemic-related jury-trial suspension creates justifiable delay 17)
Draper v. State, 886 So. 2d 105 (Ala. Crim. App. 2002) (court congestion/backlog should not weigh heavily against the State 18)
Ex parte Smith, 438 So. 2d 766 (Ala. 1983) (courts must notice subject-matter jurisdiction defects ex mero motu 19)