An Oklahoma County judge has denied an Edmond mother's bid to have her driving under the influence and child endangerment case thrown out over speedy trial violations, ruling that Brittany Gordon's own participation in plea negotiations — not prosecutorial delay — explains why her case has dragged on for more than two years since her 2024 arrest. Gordon now faces a long-delayed preliminary hearing set for Friday.
District Judge Nikki Kirkpatrick, the third judge to preside over Gordon's case, found that continuances were a defense strategy aimed at negotiating a better outcome rather than an effort to assert Gordon's right to a preliminary hearing sooner, according to NonDoc Media. “Legal right to a speedy trial could have been asserted on the first day. It was not,” Kirkpatrick said. The judge noted that District Judge Lydia Green could not preside over the case because an administrative order assigned the refiled charges back to the original judge.
Gordon's prosecution traces back to a June 2024 car accident. State laboratory toxicology tests taken that day showed zero blood alcohol content, though screening did detect therapeutic prescription mental health medications, cannabis, and dextromethorphan, according to the Urbanic Law Firm. Gordon's parents have said tests from the day of the accident showed no illegal substances, and her father, Darryl Gordon, testified during the October 12 hearing that his daughter's urinalysis showed no illegal substances and that her leg was broken in jail.
A Case Dismissed, Then Refiled
Oklahoma County District Judge Jason Glidewell dismissed Gordon's original charges without prejudice in November 2025 after prosecutors failed to produce Edmond police witnesses ahead of a strict court deadline. Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Campisano said Edmond police witnesses took longer to arrive than the court's before-lunch time allowance permitted, and both parties consented to a November 17 continuance that preceded the dismissal. Defense attorney Corey Brennan said the prior case's dismissal carried no formal reason on the record, and state attorneys declined to provide specific dismissal language when asked twice by Glidewell's clerk; Brennan described the November dismissal as the state needing to regroup and return with witnesses aligned.
District Attorney Vicki Behenna's office refiled charges against Gordon in March, four months after the temporary dismissal. Campisano testified she decided to refile in December 2025, before the Gordons spoke at public meetings, and said she waited until after the holidays at Brennan's request. Darryl Gordon testified he doubted Campisano had decided to refile before he and his wife spoke publicly, and Gordon's parents have said they viewed the refiling as retaliation for speaking about their daughter's case before the Edmond community policing board.
Judge Weighs Four-Factor Test, Sides With Prosecution
Kirkpatrick's ruling followed the 2026 refiling of Gordon's case.
Kirkpatrick agreed that Gordon chose to continue negotiating and had no legally protected right to do so, and found that Gordon spent almost no time incarcerated — noting she had short jail stays after both arrests because her parents posted bail. The judge also pointed to multiple assistant district attorneys and a couple of defense attorneys cycling through the case over its lifespan, calling that kind of rotation obnoxious, while crediting both sides for extending professional courtesies, including delaying refiling until after the holidays. Gordon was arrested a second time on April 4, eleven days after charges were filed on March 24, and Kirkpatrick said nobody immediately went to arrest her after the charges were filed. Ultimately, Kirkpatrick determined the delays did not harm or threaten Gordon and found that Gordon's experience was not unique among criminal defendants.
Brennan argued that prolonged delays could weaken witness memories and expressed concern that Gordon's blood work might not be independently testable at this point. Campisano countered that the Gordons only began complaining about speedy-trial access after negotiations stopped favoring them, and argued that upholding Gordon's motion could invite other defendants to file similar speedy-trial motions. Brennan also discussed having negotiated with a prior assistant district attorney to reduce the charges to a misdemeanor. Campisano said she was shocked and bothered by the Gordons' arguments, and during the hearing she said the family was improperly bringing civil-suit issues into the criminal proceeding; Kirkpatrick said she would not weigh the civil case during the speedy-trial hearing. Darryl Gordon testified that some of the delays in his daughter's case were the state's fault.
Parallel Civil Rights Case Still Pending
While the criminal case moves toward Friday's preliminary hearing, Gordon also awaits judgment in a separate federal civil rights lawsuit alleging Edmond Police Sgt. Nathan Fountain broke her leg while booking her into the Oklahoma County jail. Body-camera footage from June 20, 2024, captured Fountain shoving a handcuffed Gordon to the floor inside the detention center and showed the immediate aftermath. Gordon's lawsuit alleges the shove broke her leg while she was being booked during an apparent mental health crisis, according to NonDoc. Gordon filed the federal suit in June 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, naming Fountain, the City of Edmond, the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Authority, and Turn Key Health Clinics as co-defendants.
Edmond Police Maj. Damon Minter notified Gordon in a January 2025 letter that an internal review into Fountain's conduct had concluded and been addressed internally, though the department cited state personnel record exemptions under Title 51, Section 24A.7 to withhold disciplinary details from public disclosure. Ten weeks after the jail incident involving Gordon, Fountain shot Edmond resident Ross Norwood during a separate mental health crisis in September 2024, an incident for which an Oklahoma County grand jury later declined to indict him. Legal observers and defense attorneys have raised conflict-of-interest concerns over Behenna's office simultaneously prosecuting Gordon criminally while defending county entities against her federal civil rights claims.
The Oklahoma County Detention Center has also faced broader scrutiny.
For now, Gordon's criminal case heads to its long-delayed preliminary hearing Friday, more than two years after her initial arrest, while her federal lawsuit over the jail injury remains unresolved.
