The Speedy Trial Clause of the
Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Sixth Amendment (Amendment VI) to the United States Constitution sets forth rights related to criminal prosecutions. It was ratified in 1791 as part of the United States Bill of Rights. The Supreme Court has applied all but one of this amen ...
provides, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the
right to a speedy and public trial...". The Clause protects the defendant from delay between the presentation of the indictment or similar charging instrument and the beginning of trial.
History
In ''
Barker v. Wingo'' (1972), the
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
developed a four-part test that considers the length of the delay, the reasons for the delay, the defendant's assertion of his right to a speedy trial, and the prejudice to the defendant. A violation of the Speedy Trial Clause is cause for dismissal
with prejudice of a criminal case. Within these parameters, it was determined that the five-year wait for this case to go to trial was not in violation of the Constitution.
In 1974, Congress passed the
Speedy Trial Act to help protect and clarify defendants' speedy trial rights.
Speedy trial statutes
In addition to the constitutional guarantee, various state and federal statutes confer a more specific right to a speedy trial. All U.S. states have either statutes or constitutional provisions detailing this right. In New York, the prosecution must be "ready for trial" within six months on all felonies except
murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
, or the charges are dismissed by action of law without regard to the merits of the case. This is also known as a "ready rule".
The federal law detailing this right in federal actions is the
Speedy Trial Act of 1974. In 1979 the Act was amended to ensure that the defendant had time to provide a suitable defense. This amendment made it so trial could not start within less than 30 days after the defendant first appeared in the court. In ''
Zedner v. United States'' (2006) the Supreme Court determined that a defendant cannot waive his right to a speedy trial using the Speedy Trial Clause because the clause protects all parties involved in a case to ensure that no one's interests are being implicated.
Speedy trial cases
*In ''
Barker v. Wingo'' (1972), the Supreme Court required a case-by-case analysis of potential Speedy Trial violations, and laid out a four-factor balancing test for lower courts to make that determination.
*In ''
Doggett v. United States'' (1992) the Supreme Court determined that Doggett's eight and a half year wait for a trial violated his sixth amendment rights.
See also
*
Speedy trial
In criminal law, the right to a speedy trial is a human right under which it is asserted that a government prosecutor may not delay the trial of a criminal suspect arbitrarily and indefinitely. Otherwise, the power to impose such delays would ...
*
Justice delayed is justice denied
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speedy Trial
United States constitutional criminal procedure
*
Clauses of the United States Constitution
Clause
In language, a clause is a Constituent (linguistics), constituent or Phrase (grammar), phrase that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic Predicate (grammar), predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject (grammar), ...
Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution