Understanding the Criminal Justice System
It is a sad fact of our criminal justice system that the wheels of justice often turn very slowly. If you’ve been charged with a crime and you desperately want to clear your name and move forward with your life, every day, week, and month that goes by before your trial can seem like an eternity.
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ToggleUnder the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 12 of the Indiana Constitution, all criminal defendants have the right to a “speedy trial.” Indiana Criminal Rule 4(c) was enacted to implement those constitutional rights. If the state takes too long to bring a criminal prosecution to trial (through no fault of the defendant), the defendant can assert a violation of those rights and ask that the case be dismissed.
The problem is that what we may think of as “speedy” is probably a lot quicker than what the law considers “speedy” for purposes of determining whether a defendant’s rights have been violated. Notwithstanding the efforts of both you and your criminal defense attorney, your case still may be delayed and take a long (but constitutionally permissible) time to get to trial.
Trials and hearings can be delayed for a variety of reasons. The following are some of the most common.
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