The Nebraska Court of Appeals has ordered charges reinstated against a man facing his fourth drunken driving offense after a lower court dismissed the charges, saying his right a speedy trial had been violated.
Joshua Florea, of Malcolm, was charged on April 5, 2011, with fourth-offense drunken driving and several other related charges.
Prosecutors dropped the charges on July 25 of that year in order to amend and refile the charges, which they did on Oct. 13. But the Saline County District Court dismissed the charges after Florea said his right to a speedy trial within six months had been violated.
The appeals court said the lower court should not have counted the time between when the first charges were dropped and the amended charges were refiled.
