For purposes of the Act, a person is considered unavailable if his presence cannot be obtained by due diligence or he resists appearing for trial. In the current pandemic, it is increasingly likely that parties will have difficulty procuring witnesses despite diligent efforts as more and more people are taken ill, refuse to leave their homes for fear of falling ill, or are prevented from travelling.
The impact on witness availability could be particularly severe in cases involving witnesses from other States or even other countries. They have cited directions from federal and state authorities to avoid public gatherings or remain at home, and concerns for the health of everyone who would be involved in a trial.
Although there is some precedent for continuing criminal trials in the wake of natural disasters or other exigencies that interrupt normal court operations, COVID threatens to prevent normal life from resuming for months to come. The longer the pandemic stretches on, the greater the potential prejudice to criminal defendants awaiting trial, particularly those in pretrial detention. That prejudice may require courts to reexamine any blanket prohibitions on criminal jury trials.
Even in the absence of a blanket prohibition, however, there may be obstacles to a fair trial that nonetheless favor continuances in individual cases. COVID, for example, could interfere with presenting vital evidence. One magistrate judge has observed that translations of Spanish-language evidence are difficult to obtain at this time. Or COVID could prevent courts from assembling a jury venire that is truly representative of the community. The attorney listings on this site are paid attorney advertising.
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Talk to a Lawyer. Grow Your Legal Practice. Meet the Editors. The Right to a Speedy Trial. If the government doesn't get a defendant to trial within a certain amount of time, the court must toss the charges. Reasons for the Right to a Speedy Trial Among the justifications for the right to a speedy trial are: avoiding lengthy unfounded imprisonment minimizing the anxiety of awaiting case resolution, and protecting the defendant's ability to defend against charges for example, evidence may disappear and witnesses' memories may fade over time.
Speedy Trial: Timing and Deadlines The term "speedy" is relative in the legal context. Factors Courts Consider in a Speedy-Trial Analysis Courts undertake a speedy-trial analysis that differs depending on the law that's at hand. Therefore, when a defendant claims a violation, the court applies a "balancing test," assessing: the length of the delay the reason for it whether the defendant asserted the speedy-trial right, and whether the wait compromised the defense.
Triggering the Speedy-Trial Clock Usually, the time between filing of charges through, for example, a complaint or an indictment and the suspect's arrest counts against the time the government has to get the case to trial. A Right to Speedy Sentencing? Consequences for a Violation If a convicted defendant can establish a violation of the constitutional right to a speedy trial, the court must set aside the conviction, vacate the sentence, and dismiss the charging document.
Consult a Lawyer If you think you might have a speedy-trial argument, whether you've already been convicted or are awaiting trial, consult a lawyer. Talk to a Lawyer Start here to find criminal defense lawyers near you.
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The prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act has not commenced after 25 years. No charges had been framed and chances of commencing and concluding the trial soon were not strong. Observing that the accused persons had already suffered a lot both mentally and physically during the last 25 years, the Court dropped all charges against the accused.
In this case , the Apex Court held that if the trial of a case for an offence which is punishable with imprisonment up to three years has been pending for more than three years and if the trial is not commenced, then the criminal court is required to discharge and acquit the accused. From the above judgements, we can infer that if a person is facing trial for a long period awaiting justice it would impede speedy trial and the same would be violative of Article 21 of the Constitution.
To ensure speedy trial the Apex through its various judgements from time to time not only emphasised the need for a speedy trial but also laid down detailed guidelines to counter the delay in proceedings.
There is a catena of pronouncements by the Supreme Court and the High Court wherein the courts held quashing of proceedings, dropping of the charges, the acquittal of the accused and right to bail of the accused as some of the remedies to the consequence of the delay of the proceedings.
Besides the above judgements, there are various legislative provisions some of them were already existing some of them were inserted through amendments under the Code Of Criminal Procedure, to ensure speedy trial:.
The right to a speedy trial is a fundamental right inherent under Article 21 of the constitution which provides for the right to life and personal liberties. Our Constitution provides that whenever there is a violation of fundamental rights, a person can move to the Supreme Court under Article 32 and to the High Court under Article of the Constitution.
Ramachandra Rao v. State of Karnataka , the court laid down certain guidelines and held that the powers conferred under Sections , and of the Code of Criminal Procedure shall be exercised by the criminal courts to effectuate the Right to Speedy Trial. To seek appropriate relief and directions, the jurisdiction of the High Court under Section of Cr. So, if we see from the top to the bottom of the article, we can see that from time to time the right to a speedy trial was emphasised as being a fundamental right under Article 21 to reconcile justice and fairness with many other interests which are compelling and paramount.
The Supreme Court has emphasized the above propositions again and again in its judgements. In Kartar Singh v. State of Punjab, the Supreme Court held that the concept of speedy trial is an essential part of Article 21 of our Constitution.
This right to speedy trial begins with the arrest of the accused and consequent incarceration and continues at all the stages of investigation, enquiry, trial, appeal and revision so that prejudice caused by the impermissible and avoidable delay can be averted.
From the above facts, we can conclude that initially, the speedy trial was not so important but after the period of emergency, the Courts started taking interest in providing speedy trials to prevent unnecessary harassments to the parties to a criminal proceeding. The right to a speedy trial is available at all stages namely, investigation, inquiry, trial, appeal, revision and retrial.
The Supreme Court in its various judgements emphasised that a person can approach the Supreme Court under Article 32 and the High Court under Article to enforce the right to a speedy trial. However, the Court at various times refused to fix a time limit under which a trial has to be concluded. At last, after making so many provisions to ensure speedy justice the people of India are still not getting speedy justice in the true sense.
There exist various reasons for the delay in the trial. Though the right to a speedy trial is a fundamental right, it still requires empirical study and comprehensive law for its meaningful application.
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