State v. Amer, 254 N.J. 405 (2023)

James Plaisted argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of amicus curiae ACDL-NJ. The Interstate Agreement on Detainers requires that a defendant who provides notice of his request for the disposition of his New Jersey offenses must be tried within 180 days of receipt of such a request. We argued that the 180 days does not toll while motions are pending, and that bringing a person to trial requires that a jury be sworn, not merely that jury selection has begun. The Court found that the 180-day period tolled while motions were pending because the defendant could not stand trial during that time. Moreover, it found that the start of jury selection qualified as bringing the defendant to trial, so there was no violation of the defendant's rights under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers. Joshua P. Law co-authored the brief.