An attorney for former WABC weathercaster Heidi Jones has filed a motion with the state of New York asking for a dismissal of her trial on a technicality — that too much time has elapsed since her arraignment. Jones is charged with lying to police about an attempted sexual assault.
The motion filed claims that in the case of the misdemeanor charges Jones faces in New York, the state was required to bring the case to trial within 90 days. Jones was arraigned on January 5, and Callan is claiming that the state “is now 107 days tardy and the indictment must be dismissed.”
“Our motion states that prosecutors mistakenly charged the wrong crime and could never have been ready for trial,” Paul Callan, Jones’s attorney, said. “The case must be dismissed under New York’s strict Speedy Trial Law.”
Jones has been charged with lying to police about an attempted sexual assault. She claimed she narrowly escaped an assailant in New York City’s Central Park, but later admitted she lied. She pleaded not guilty last month. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers has set August 18 as his decision date.