A Fort Dodge man accused of attempting to kill a woman in October 2020 is asking the court to dismiss the charges on the grounds that his right to a speedy trial has been violated.

Reino Valentino Bodady, 37, is facing one count of attempted murder, a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. He is accused of cutting and stabbing a woman in the neck and abdomen area in a residence in the 500 block of North Third Street between 4:30 a.m. and 4:40 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 24, 2020.

In a motion to dismiss, heard in Webster County District Court Monday afternoon, Bodady’s defense attorney Judd Parker said the state failed to bring his client to trial within the 90-day deadline from the date of the trial information and minutes of testimony being filed, as is required under the Iowa Rules of Criminal Procedure.

This violates Bodady’s right to a speedy trial under the Iowa and United States constitutions, Parker alleged.

Ninety days from Oct. 28, 2020, when the trial information was filed, would have meant the case expired on Jan. 27, 2021, and Bodady had not been brought to trial by that date.

District Court Judge Kurt Stoebe listened to arguments from the defense in support of the motion and arguments from the state in resistance to the motion on Monday afternoon.

The Iowa Supreme Court has “muddied the waters” with its orders, which specifically postponed jury trials during the COVID-19 pandemic, Parker said. Bodady had been charged during the brief period after the Supreme Court restarted jury trials in September 2020 and when it postponed trials once again on Nov. 10, 2020.

The order expanded the rule to 120 days and included Feb. 1, 2021, as the start date to the deadline.

The order from the Iowa Supreme Court to postpone all jury trials until Feb. 1, 2021, included the provision that the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes “good cause” to delay jury trials, which the defense disagrees with.

“The supervisory order by the Supreme Court, even in a time of a pandemic, was not sufficient to override his constitutional right and there was not good cause hindering the ability to bring Mr. Bodady to trial,” Parker argued.

In response and resistance to the defense’s motion, Assistant Webster County Attorney Bailey Taylor noted that the entire court system is dealing with the effects of a global pandemic and that situation is not unique to Bodady’s case.

“Mr. Parker and Mr. Bodady are essentially asking this court to overrule all of the Supreme Court orders that were entered during the pandemic and this court just doesn’t have the opportunity or the power to do that,” Taylor said. “(The Supreme Court has) found that a global pandemic is good cause.”

Taylor also said the defense’s argument that the trial could have been held before the Nov. 10 postponing of jury trials was ridiculous as the defendant was charged too close to that date.

“I’m sorry, but even the most prepared prosecution and prepared defense team wouldn’t have been able to bring this case to trial in 12 days,” she said.

According to Taylor, the state requested that the case be moved up for trial from April 27 to March 30, which was declined by the defense.

“The state and the prosecution has done everything in its power to bring this case to trial at the earliest opportunity possible,” Taylor said.

Pending Stoebe’s ruling on the defense’s motion to dismiss, Bodady is scheduled to go to trial on April 13.