David Castro Ordunez, Petitioner v. Woodrow W. Bean, Ii, Presiding Judge, 243rd District Court of El Paso County…

Summary

The Court denied the petition for a writ of mandamus seeking to set aside the indictment, holding that the trial judge's determination that the overcrowded docket constituted an exceptional circumstance was a discretionary judgment, not a ministerial act, and that the petitioner had an adequate appellate remedy. The denial was based on the two‑step mandamus test requiring no other adequate remedy and a ministerial duty, both of which the petitioner failed to satisfy. The opinion also interpreted the term "state" in the Speedy Trial Act as referring only to the prosecuting attorney, not the trial court. Separate opinions by Judges Clinton (concurrence) and Phillips (concurring in part, dissenting in part) are noted.