I keep hearing about people in jail for 3+ years awaiting trial. If they’re ‘innocent until proven guilty’ I dont understand why they are confined. I thought there was a right to a speedy trial also or is that not really the case?
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People held in jail before trial are there for one of two reasons: they either can’t afford the bond that was set, or they were not given a bond at all. If they have been denied a bond that usually means that they’re charged with something very serious: murder, rape, arson, etc. More common is a bond that the defendant can’t afford. Judges are supposed to consider ability to pay in setting bond, but in practice it’s usually just based on the seriousness of the charge (the logic being that a person has a higher motivation to flee if he’s charged with something very serious) and any failures to appear for court in the past.
Regarding speedy trial, there’s a pretty big loophole there, which is basically that if a judge believes that the prosecution has “good cause” for a delay, he can give it to them without running afoul of the speedy trial rule. So if the crime lab is running behind, that time essentially doesn’t count for speedy trial purposes. There’s also waiver by the defendant. Sometimes, a defendant will agree to exclude a certain portion of time from the speedy trial calculation; in those cases, it’s usually because the defendant’s lawyer has something he needs to do but can’t get it done before trial. In those cases, the time you need to count up for a speedy trial violation will not include the time waived by the defendant
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