This issue comes up all the time.  I've been doing criminal defense now for twenty-five years and a lot of times, for various reasons, I will be arguing that the judge or the prosecutor, or both, are violating my client's speedy trial right.  And it doesn't just have to do with a trial.  It could also have to do with the preliminary hearing.

The right to a speedy trial in Los Angeles is a crucial aspect of the legal system. Defendants charged with a criminal offense in this city have this right, which is guaranteed by both the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution and the California Constitution.

If a defendant's right to a speedy trial has been violated due to an extensive delay, they can file a motion to dismiss due to a lack of a speedy prosecution. Such a motion, commonly known as Serna motions after the 1985 California Supreme Court decision in Serna v. Superior Court, can lead to the dismissal of the case.

The Court ruled that an unjustified delay can be a violation of a defendant's Constitutional speedy trial rights and can provide grounds for dismissal. In other words, you get prosecuted.  You're entitled to have a preliminary hearing within a certain amount of time on a felony case in Los Angeles.

Then, for whatever reason, sometimes the prosecutors are trying to delay that.  Maybe they don't have all the evidence.  Maybe the prosecutor that is prosecuting the case is on trial or at another preliminary hearing, so they're trying to continue the case.  The defendant, for example, who is in custody, is saying no, I don't want to continue the case.  I want my preliminary hearing now.

Violation of Your Right To a Speedy Trial

So, you start to get into this speedy trial right issue, and the judge has to make decisions, obviously, based on the law as to whether or not your speedy trial right has been violated, and, therefore, the case must be dismissed.

The prosecutors can file a 1050 Motion, a formal request that states they have good cause to continue your case. The judge will then have to rule on whether the prosecutors indeed have good cause for the continuation.

For example, just because a prosecutor might not be available, the judge could say, well, there are a thousand prosecutors in LA county.  Get another one.  Depending on how complicated the case is and how much discovery there is, that may or may not be a solution to the problem.

The judge plays a pivotal role in deciding whether to continue a case if a defendant is asserting their speedy trial right.  The judge's decision on the duration of the continuation, whether it's for a day, a week, or a month, is crucial in the legal process.

So, that really starts to become an issue. You can also get a speed trial right with a defense flair. I've seen public defenders, for example, who aren't prepared on a case—they haven't reviewed all of the discovery—and maybe it's not their fault.

Maybe it's just because there's so much information; there's no way for them to digest it all, so they want more time, and their client wants them to have less time.  Their client wants to have a speedy trial.

Now, the judge has to make a decision whether they're going to continue the case to give the defense lawyer more time over their client objecting, saying I want my trial now.  I want my preliminary hearing now.  I'm not wasting time.

I'm not agreeing to it, and I've seen judges ignore the defendant and say, "No, your lawyer says they want time to prepare, so therefore, I'm going to continue the case.  " In the end, you'll force the lawyer, and then someone will claim that the lawyer wasn't prepared and, therefore, it's ineffective assistance to counsel.

Right to a Speedy Trial under the California State Constitution

You just can't win sometimes with these speedy trial motions.  Then, of course, this whole speedy trial concept in Los Angeles also applies to trials.  Sometimes, someone will have their trial.  It will be ten of ten, meaning that's the last day to do the trial.

The defense will come in ready to go. Still, the prosecutor will, for example, request more discovery on the case, ask to continue the case, or bring in some new witnesses, which puts the defense attorney in a difficult position.

I had a case once in downtown Los Angeles.  It was a complicated murder case.  Obviously, all of the marbles are on the line and the case had been pending for over two years and we were ready to start the case.

We were ready to go to trial, and on the day that we were going to be sent into the trial court, the prosecutors came, not just with a few pages of discovery, but with an entire box worth of discovery, and my client was mad because she wanted to get her trial started.

There was a co-defendant in the case as well.  He wanted to get his trial started.  So, I just told the judge, listen, I don't care what's in that box.  We're starting the trial, and if the prosecutor tries to use anything in that box against my client, I'm going to object to it because it's been over two years.

There's no way they couldn't have gotten this before.  So, the judge just sent the case on to the next court.  Once we got in that court, the prosecutor dismissed the case and then just refiled the case.  They could do that one time, and I ended up having to review the discovery.  The case went to trial, and it was actually a hung jury, eleven for not guilty and one for guilty, and the prosecutors ended up dismissing that case.

Of course, I would have looked in the box and seen if there was anything to help my client and obviously have been ready to defend anything that didn't help my client. Still, the point illustrates how ridiculous it sometimes gets when these guys are not on the ball and mess around with the discovery, and it really does impact somebody's speedy trial.

So, you, as the defense attorney, and even you, as a defendant, have to be on top of this stuff—what evidence is available out there? Let's get it. Either file a motion for the judge to order the prosecutors to give it, or get it from the police and give it over. Subpoena the information yourself.

Do whatever it takes in order to get that information so that you're prepared and you don't violate somebody's speedy trial right.

So, if you have a speedy trial right issue and these things can crop up in a lot of different ways, obviously, you want to do your research on it.  If you're looking to hire a lawyer, you want to sit down with a lawyer and go over everything so you can really get a feel for what the speedy trial right means in Los Angeles.

You also can discuss what you can do as a defendant or the loved one of a defendant to make sure that you can assert every right possible and get the best outcome in your criminal case in Los Angeles. Contact our law firm for help.