The trial court dismissed Fredrick Gay’s indictment after finding that a three-and-a-half-year delay violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial. Gay had been indicted in 2008, but he did not assert the constitutional right until 2011. The State appealed, and the Georgia Court of Appeals held that the trial court had significantly misapplied the four-factor Barker analysis. The trial court improperly counted the period before arrest or indictment as a reason for delay, weighed the State’s conduct too heavily, and treated the death of Gay’s sister as substantial defense prejudice without evidence that she was a material alibi witness. The appellate court also explained that Gay’s late assertion of the constitutional right had to weigh against him. Because the trial court’s ultimate balancing depended on those legal and factual errors, the appellate court did not decide whether the delay ultimately violated the Constitution. It vacated the dismissal and remanded for the trial court to reconsider the motion using properly supported findings and the correct legal analysis. The case therefore returned to the trial court without a final speedy-trial determination.