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State v. Pruitt3/28/2001
Submitted: October 16, 2001
Upon appeal from the Superior Court. AFFIRMED.
The State of Delaware appeals the April 2, 2001 order of the Superior Court granting Appellee, Defendant-below, Christopher Pruitt's Motion to Dismiss charges brought in Superior Court by indictment for Driving Under the Influence , Driving While License Suspended or Revoked, and Disregarding a Red Light. A Justice of the Peace, unable to locate the substantiating summons and complaints when Pruitt appeared before him, had previously dismissed identical charges on November 8, 2000. The following day, after the arresting officer informed the court that the summons and complaints in fact had been filed, the court clerk located them in another file and a sitting Justice of the Peace reinstated the charges without notice to Pruitt that he had been asked to do so by the arresting officer. The State later entered a nolle prosequi and brought identical charges by indictment in the Superior Court. On Pruitt's motion, a Superior Court judge dismissed the charges, ruling from the bench that the arresting officer's ex parte motion to reinstate the charges and the Justice of the Peace's action reinstating the charges violated Pruitt's due process rights.
This Court must determine whether the Superior Court judge abused his discretion when he granted Pruitt's Motion to Dismiss. Although Pruitt raised his Motion to Dismiss under Superior Court Criminal Rule 12(b), we agree with the State that the Superior Court judge's comments supporting his decision to grant Pruitt's Motion to Dismiss imply an equal reliance on Rule 48(b). Therefore, we shall examine this appeal in the context of Rule 48.
We find that the State's entry of a nolle prosequi on the reinstated charges and later prosecution of those identical charges in the Superior Court unfairly manipulated the judicial process, delayed the swift resolution of the charges against Pruitt, and created undue prejudice that could only be remedied by the prompt dismissal of the charges by that court. Moreover, the State's practice of dismissing charges brought before an inferior court and reinstating them in the Superior Court in this case was prejudicial and inconsistent with the fair and orderly administration of justice. Therefore, we AFFIRM the Superior Court's dismissal of the motor vehicle charges pending against Appellee Pruitt.
On November 3, 2000, Patrolman Leccia of the Wilmington Police arrested Christopher Pruitt on several traffic charges, including Driving Under the Influence , Driving While License Suspended or Revoked, and Disregarding a Red Light. Leccia also arrested Pruitt for possession of marijuana. The officer issued two separate summonses, one directing Pruitt to appear before a Justice of the Peace on November 7, 2000 for the traffic charges and the second to appear in Justice of the Peace Court on November 20, 2000 for arraignment on the marijuana charge.
Pruitt appeared in Justice of the Peace Court on November 7 as directed. On that date, the Justice of the Peace could not find any paperwork documenting the traffic charges relating to Pruitt's arrest and ordered him to return the following day. On November 8, court personnel still could not locate the paperwork, and the Justice of the Peace dismissed the traffic complaints. When Leccia learned that the traffic charges had been dismissed because the court was unable to find the supporting paperwork, the officer informed the clerk of the court that he had properly provided the court with the summons and complaints. The clerk then discovered that the paperwork had been mistakenly filed with that submitted for the marijuana charge.
After learning th
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