“Speedy Trial” refers to one of the rights that defendants facing criminal charges have under the 6th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Sixth Amendment provides in part that
“In all criminal cases the accused shall enjoy the right … to a speedy trial.”
The underlying purpose of this right is that defendants should not be subject to unreasonable lengthy incarceration prior to a trial. It protects defendants against egregious prosecutorial conduct to delay cases. Besides the right granted under the U.S. Constitution, the right is also codified in New York in Criminal Procedure Law Section 30.30. Unlike the constitutional right, the NY right was enacted to enforce prosecutional readiness and to address delays by prosecutorial inaction. The criminal defendant has two rights, both the speedy trial right under the U.S. Constitution and the one under the NYS Penal Law. Depending on the type of offense an individual is charged with will depend on the applicable time period under New York State Law.
New York State Statutory Speedy Trial Rights:
Applicable Time Periods:
Felonies – 6 Months
Class A misdemeanors – 90 Days
Class B misdemeanor – 60 Days
Violations – 30 Days
Traffic Violations – No Time period for statutory Speedy Trial but Constitutional Speedy Trial still applies
To be “ready for trial” under CPL 30.30, the Prosecution must in fact be ready to proceed and communicate that readiness on the record. Once the Prosecution states ready on the record they have met the statutory requirement. This can’t be a prediction or expectation of future readiness.
Subsequently, they are only charged with a delay that directly implicates their ability to proceed to trial. The People are not charged with the time that is due to court congestion. To calculate the speedy trial time you look at the time between the filing of the first accusatory instrument and the Peoples declaration of rediness. You then subtract excludable periods of delay, and add any post-readiness delays which are attributable to the People and are excluded under the statute.
Excludable Time Periods:
The Actual Day the Accusatory Instrument was Filed
Pretrial motions filed by the Defendant and the period they are under review.
Discovery by Stipulation (“DBS”)
Peoples need for a reasonable time to prepare for trial
Adjournments based on consent of both the Prosecution and Defense
The Burden:
When a motion is made pursuant to CPL § 30.30, a defendant meets his burden of going forward by demonstrating that a delay greater than the allowable statutory time limit has occurred since the commencement of the action. Once shown, the burden then shifts to the People to show that certain periods of time should not be charged against them.