Taxpayers are being ripped off by our criminial court system

Good Day World!

I sure hate seeing taxpayers get ripped off by our criminal court system.

One case can easily go into millions of dollars thanks to a system that makes lawyers rich.

Take the case against Colorado theater gunman James Holmes. He’s already absorbed at least $5.5 million in public monies, with more to come.

That’s $2 million more than the estimated average cost of a completed Colorado death penalty trial — and the contentious Holmes proceeding is still months away from opening arguments.

In the two and a half years since that initial court appearance, primary personnel involved with the case — prosecutors, defense attorneys, the judge, court reporter, trial investigators and victims’ advocates for the district attorney — have been paid approximately $4.5 million.

What happened to the right of a Speedy Trial? Two and a half years is a long time. Worse, the trial date is still a mystery.

The Founding Fathers intended the Speedy Trial Clause to serve two purposes.

First, they sought to prevent defendants from languishing in jail for an indefinite period before trial. Second, they sought to ensure a defendant's right to a fair trial.

The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees all persons accused of criminal wrongdoing the right to a speedy trial.

Although this right is derived from the federal Constitution, it has been made applicable to state criminal proceedings through the U.S. Supreme Court's interpretation of the due process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The Speedy Trial Act establishes specific time limits between various stages of federal criminal proceedings. The act requires federal authorities to file an information or indictment within 30 days of a defendant's arrest.

A prosecutor who knows that accused is incarcerated at the time of indictment must take immediate steps to initiate prosecution.

If a defendant enters a plea of not guilty, trial must commence within 70 days from the filing of the information or indictment or 70 days from the first appearance of the accused in court, whichever is later.

Despite these steps taken to assure a speedy trial, there is no such thing in America today. That’s because our justice system allows lawyers to get rich off of delays. Couple that with ripping taxpayers off for the money to pay them and you begin to see what’s happened to our justice system.

It shouldn’t take millions of (taxpayer) dollars to conduct every murder case. What happens if there’s no more taxpayer money to grab for a continuing criminal case? Will criminals be released because the state funds have dried up and there’s no way to pay the lawyers their blood money?

It’s a troubling thought.

Time for me to walk on down the road…