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Parks v. State7/27/1999
Parks argues that the citations issued to him were not proper accusations and therefore did not start his speedy trial clock running. Parks cites the local legislation creating the Cobb County State Court, which provides in part that
" ll prosecutions in criminal cases instituted in the Civil and Criminal Court of Cobb County shall be by written accusation made by the solicitor general or assistant solicitor general, based upon an affidavit setting forth plainly the offense charged in terms of law, upon which shall be entered the name of the prosecutor." Ga. L. 1994, p. 3938 (amending "an Act to create a court to be known as the 'Civil and Criminal Court of Cobb County," approved March 26, 1964; see Ga. L. 1964, p. 3211). Parks maintains that his speedy trial clock did not start running until his arraignment on February 10, 1998, because no formal accusation was filed by the solicitor's office in this case. This argument lacks merit.
OCGA § 15-7-1 et seq. authorizes the creation of state courts in Georgia and establishes rules of practice and procedure governing all such courts. Majia v. State, 174 Ga. App. 432, 434 (2) (330 SE2d 171), aff'd, State v. Majia, 254 Ga. 660 (333 SE2d 834) (1985). These code provisions signal the legislature's clear intent that there be uniform rules of practice and procedure in the state courts. State v. Majia, 254 Ga. at 660; see also Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, § I, II, IV. Accordingly, unless otherwise provided by OCGA § 15-7-1 et seq., when there is a conflict between the statute and local law creating a particular state court, the statute takes priority and is controlling. OCGA § 15-7-3; see also OCGA § 15-7-60. Further, " he general laws and rules of practice, pleading, procedure, and evidence which are applicable to the superior courts of this state" also govern the state courts. OCGA § 15-7-43 (b).
Although OCGA § 15-7-1 et seq. does not specifically refer to speedy trial demands, OCGA § 17-7-170 is clearly encompassed within the "general laws and rules of practice, pleading, procedure, and evidence which are applicable to the superior courts" of Georgia. See Majia v. State, 174 Ga. App. at 434. Thus, the local legislation cited by Parks does not abrogate OCGA § 40-13-3's clear pronouncement that, in prosecutions based on uniform traffic citations which are filed in court, the State need not file a formal accusation. Likewise, traffic prosecutions in Cobb County State Court do not present an exception to the bright-line rule established by the Supreme Court in Gerbert, supra, that the filing of a uniform traffic citation substitutes for the filing of a formal accusation and starts the speedy trial clock running. Here, the filing of the citations against Parks constituted an accusation, and Parks' trial demand filed two court terms later was untimely. See Black, supra.
Judgment affirmed. McMurray, P. J., and Andrews, P. J., concur.
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