Colo. R. Crim. P. 48 (2026)

(a) By the State. No criminal case pending in any court shall be dismissed or a nolle prosequi therein entered by any prosecuting attorney or his deputy, unless upon a motion in open court, and with the court’s consent and approval. Such a motion shall be supported or accompanied by a written statement concisely stating the reasons for the action. The statement shall be filed with the record of the particular case and be open to public inspection. Such a dismissal may not be filed during the trial without the defendant’s consent.

(b) By the Court.

(1) If, after the filing of a complaint, there is unnecessary delay in finding an indictment or filing an information against a defendant who has been held to answer in a district court, the court may dismiss the prosecution. Except as otherwise provided in this Rule, if a defendant is not brought to trial on the issues raised by the complaint, information, or indictment within six months from the entry of a plea of not guilty, he shall be discharged from custody if he has not been admitted to bail, the pending charges shall be dismissed, whether he is in custody or on bail, and the defendant shall not again be indicted, informed against, or committed for the same offense, or for another offense based upon the same act or series of acts arising out of the same criminal episode.

(2) If trial results in conviction which is reversed on appeal, any new trial must be commenced within six months after the date of the receipt by the trial court of the mandate from the appellate court.

(3) If a trial date has been fixed by the court, and thereafter the defendant requests and is granted a continuance for trial, the period within which the trial shall be had is extended for an additional six months period from the date upon which the continuance was granted.

(3.5) If a trial date has been fixed by the court and the defendant fails to make an appearance in person on the trial date, the period in which the trial shall be had is extended for an additional six months’ period from the date of the defendant’s next appearance.

(4) If a trial date has been fixed by the court, and thereafter the prosecuting attorney requests and is granted a continuance, the time is not thereby extended within which the trial shall be had, as is provided in subsection (b)(1) of this Rule, unless the defendant in person or by his counsel in open court of record expressly agrees to the continuance. The

time for trial, in the event of such agreement, is then extended by the number of days intervening between the granting of such continuance and the date to which trial is continued.

(5) To be entitled to a dismissal under subsection (b)(1) of this Rule, the defendant must move for dismissal prior to the commencement of his trial or the entry of a plea of guilty to the charge or an included offense. Failure so to move is a waiver of the defendant’s rights under this section.

(5.1) If a trial date is offered by the court to a defendant who is represented by counsel and neither the defendant nor his counsel expressly objects to the offered date as beyond the time within which the trial shall be had pursuant to this rule, then the period within which the trial shall be had is extended until such trial date and may be extended further pursuant to any other applicable provision of this rule.

(6) In computing the time within which a defendant shall be brought to trial as provided in subsection (b)(1) of this Rule, the following periods of time shall be excluded:

(I) Any period during which the defendant is incompetent to stand trial or is unable to appear by reason of illness or physical disability or is under observation or examination at any time after the issue of insanity, incompetency or impaired mental condition is raised;

COMMITTEE COMMENT

This amendment to Crim. P. 48(b)(6)(I) is its corresponding statute, Section 18-1- designed to bring this Rule into conformity with 405(6)(A), 8B C.R.S. (1994 Supp.).

(II) The period of delay caused by an interlocutory appeal, an appeal from an order that dismisses one or more counts of a charging document prior to trial, or after issuance of a rule to show cause in an original action brought under Colorado Appellate Rule 21, whether commenced by the defendant or by the prosecution;

(III) A reasonable period of delay when the defendant is joined for trial with a codefendant as to whom the time for trial has not run and there is good cause for not granting a severance;

(IV) The period or delay resulting from the voluntary absence or unavailability of the defendant; however, a defendant shall be considered unavailable whenever his whereabouts are known but his presence for trial cannot be obtained, or he resists being returned to the state for trial;

(V) The period of delay caused by any mistrial, not to exceed three months for each mistrial;

(VI) The period of delay caused at the instance of the defendant;

(VII) The period of delay not exceeding six months resulting from a continuance granted at the request of the prosecuting attorney, without the consent of the defendant, if:

(A) The continuance is granted because of the unavailability of evidence material to the state’s case, when the prosecuting attorney has exercised due diligence to obtain such evidence and there are reasonable grounds to believe that such evidence will be available at the later date; or

(B) The continuance is granted to allow the prosecuting attorney additional time in felony cases to prepare the state’s case and additional time is justified because of exceptional circumstances of the case and the court entered specific findings with respect to the justification.

(VIII) The period of delay between the new date set for trial following the expiration of the time periods excluded by paragraphs (I), (II), (III), (IV), and (V) of this subsection (6), not to exceed three months.

(IX) The period of delay between the filing of a motion pursuant to section 18-1-202 (11) and any decision by the court regarding such motion, and if such decision by the court transfers the case to another county, the period of delay until the first appearance of all the parties in a court of appropriate jurisdiction in the county to which the case has been transferred, and in such event the provisions of subsection (7) of this section shall apply.

(7) If a trial date has been fixed by the court and the case is subsequently transferred to a court in another county, the period within which trial must be had is extended for an

additional three months from the date of the first appearance of all of the parties in a court of appropriate jurisdiction in the county to which the case has been transferred.

Source: (b)(3.5), (b)(5.1), (b)(6)(VIII), (b)(6)(IX), and (b)(7) added February 4, 1993, effective April 1, 1993; (b)(6)(I) amended and committee comment added, effective January 26, 1995; entire rule amended and adopted June 27, 2002, effective July 1, 2002.