Colorado v. Storlie

Petitioner Robert Storlie argued the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to grant the district attorney's motion under Crim. P. 48(a) to dismiss the charges against him. In response, the respondent trial court, through a brief filed on its behalf by the Attorney General's office, argued that a criminal defendant such as Storlie had no standing to challenge the denial of a motion to dismiss. Respondent further argued that even if Storlie had standing, there was no abuse of discretion in denying the motion to dismiss. First, the Supreme Court concluded that it need not decide whether Storlie had standing to challenge the trial court's denial of the motion to dismiss because the district attorney, who joined in Storlie's request for relief before the Supreme Court, had standing to challenge such a denial. On the merits, the Supreme Court held that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the motion to dismiss because there was no evidence that the prosecution acted in bad faith in seeking the dismissal, nor did the trial court make any findings suggesting bad faith. Accordingly, the case was remanded back to the trial court for further proceedings. View "Colorado v. Storlie" on Justia Law