05/06/96 State Tennessee V. Terry E. Wood

We granted the application of Terry E. Wood, the defendant, for permission to appeal in order to resolve an issue of first impression in Tennessee: whether the return of a sealed presentment *fn1 engages an accused person's speedy trial rights under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, § 9, of the Tennessee Constitution. After a thorough examination of the record and careful consideration of the issue, we conclude, for reasons appearing below, that the return of a presentment, whether sealed or unsealed, whether the accompanying capias is executed or unexecuted, is a formal accusation that engages constitutional speedy trial provisions. Thus, we must apply the criteria of Barker v. Wingo *fn2 and State v. Bishop *fn3 to determine whether the thirteen-year delay in this case deprived the appellant of his constitutional speedy trial rights. We find that there was no such deprivation and affirm the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals.