BERNE — Since he was arrested for driving while impaired by drugs and failing to keep right in July last year, Brian Hoover has been out of work, showing up once a month in town court.

His attorney has tried to have the charges dismissed by saying the time for prosecutors to act has expired, and his basic right to a speedy trial has been violated.

In Berne Town Court last Tuesday, Jeffrey Richards of the Albany County Public Defender’s Office asked Judge Alan Zuk if he could again argue for the dismissal, which Zuk had denied. The judge granted the request, with a new round of arguments set for next month, a year after Hoover, now 42, was arrested on Beaver Dam Road.

As Richards appealed to Zuk, Assistant District Attorney Brittany Grome took offense at his comments.

“I believe they made a deliberate attempt to mislead the court as to the law in this matter,” Richards said of the case law cited by Grome. Her cases were irrelevant, he said, “each and every one of them.”

Richards repeated his argument that, according to criminal procedure, Grome had six months to indict Hoover or request an inquiry of the charges by the court, and neither happened in time.

“I have no idea what defense counsel is talking about,” Grome told Zuk, saying she had given many cases to support her position.

Richards added, “The fact that prosecution has no idea what I’m talking about, defense believes is scary.”

He added, “Obviously they don’t know the law.”

“I’m going to cut him off,” Grome said as Richards continued. “Personal attacks are ridiculous in this court.”

Hoover was charged with a felony because he had had a previous conviction in the last 10 years.

A felony may carry a sentence of more than one year in jail, while a misdemeanor involves jail time of one year or less.

Richards first spoke about Hoover’s right to a speedy trial last month. Grome said then that, despite Richards’ talk about the prosecution of a felony, the district attorney’s office has the power to reduce a felony charge without the court and without the defendant’s approval.

Richards said the case was never adjourned, but had its date rescheduled, a difference that allows the six-month clock to run. The plea reduction came after that point, he said.

“A person with a criminal case pending against him suffers great anxiety,” Richards told Zuk during his oral argument in May.

Hoover emphatically agreed outside of court, saying he has problems with anxiety, depression, and congestive heart failure.

He takes Xanax regularly, he said, but, after he told police that he had taken two-and-a-half pills the night before he was pulled over  on July 5, 2014, and a half of a pill that morning, the Albany County Sheriff’s deputy tested him for impairment and said he failed six and passed one test. He was pulled over around 5 a.m. on his way to work when police saw his car cross the center line of the road, according to the arrest report.

Hoover’s chemical breath test showed his blood-alcohol content to be zero, the report says, and a paramedic had trouble drawing blood from him for later testing.

In Judge Zuk’s original decision denying the speedy trial motion, Zuk also granted hearings for Hoover’s case to be assessed before trial.