my husband has been in the county for a couple months he was suppose to go to trial last week but he didnt he was told it was continued..hes already had his pretrials..he hasnt seen his public defender since may and doesnt know whats goin on...he was offered a plea of f4 assault instead of f2 but refused he said that he wants to go to trial
The United States Constitution provides us with the right to a speedy trial. We have the right to have our case tried before a judge or jury without having to sit in jail for years. In Ohio, defendants have the option of "waiving" their speedy trial rights. What this means is that the defendant or their attorney can delay the case by waiving their right to a speedy trial. Sometimes criminal defense attorneys use this to prepare for trial. You should contact your husband's attorney to determine whether his speedy trial rights have been waived. Another way that the trial could be delayed is the tolling of speedy trial time. This means that some days will not count towards the 90 day minimum jail time. Some things that may cause the case to "toll" could be the filing of a motion, such as a motion to suppress.
Many things can factor into How long he can be in jail prior to trial. The shortest amount of time limit he could be in jail prior to trial would be 90 days. However if his speedy trial rights have been waived or otherwise tolled it can be much longer. The only way to tell for sure is to review the record. His attorney would be in the best position to calculate how much longer he can be kept in jail prior to trial.
I would recommend contacting his public defender. Obviously, your husband would have to give permission for the public defender to discuss the particulars of his case with you due to attorney-client privilege, but the PD should be communicating with your husband regarding the status of his case. The one possibility is that your husband waived his speedy trial rights, which allow essentially slows a case down for a particular reason. Again, the public defender (who is an attorney) has an obligation to keep your husband abreast of his case.
You or he would need to speak to his attorney to see what the status of his case is, and if he has waived any of his rights. Many times, if the continuance was at his request, that will act as a waiver or at least toll the time. Talk to his attorney for more information about his case.
