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Criminal defense:
Anonymous3 views6 answers
My friend was arrested for alleged child neglect and 2nd degree murder for his 2 month old son.The child was born with brain abnormalities and other complications so they are trying to explain how the the child health was a factor. My friends been in jail for over a year and they keep postponing it his trail. What can he do?
This question is better answered by his attorney who is more familiar with the case and the facts surrounding it. If your friend is not satisfied with his attorney, he can always hire another one.
The only thing your friend can do to speed up the process is file a Demand for Speedy Trial. After a Demand is filed, the State has 60 days to bring your friend to trial. However, the Demand tells the court that your friend is ready for trial and it could be set as soon as 5 days after the hearing on the Demand. Especially because your friend is facing such serious charges, he must be absolutely certain that he is ready for trial prior to filing it; it could do more harm than good.
The problem is, the friend cannot file his own demand for speedy trial. He is represented and any motion he files is moot. I still say he needs to have/insist upon a serious talk with his attorney or get a new one.
Mr. Waggoner is absolutely correct in his assertion that anything filed by your friend personally will not be heard by the court. If someone is represented by counsel, anything filed by the actual litigant/defendant is considered a nullity.
Therefore, if the friend is ready for trial and believes that all the preparation for trial is completed and that his attorney should be ready for trial, he needs to tell his attorney to file the Demand. If his attorney won't file it, he may need to hire another attorney. However, if he hires another attorney, that attorney will need time to get ready for trial as well.
Having been chief of the capital crimes division for the Palm Beach County Public Defender's office for 7 years, issues like this were presented to me on a regular basis. It is crucial, if your lawyer hasn't done so yet, to retain a qualified forensic pathologist/medical examiner to evaluate all aspects of the autopsy results. Make sure the expert has experience with infants as there are subspecialties within the field. The cause of death is crucial to the case and if the brain abnormalities can be tied in, your friend might have a fighting chance. Cases like this are extremely complicated and there are numerous factors that will affect the outcome. If you are interested I can suggest one such expert who testified for my client, who was charged with 1st degree murder of 18 mo. old, and was acquitted by a jury. www.randybermanlaw.com
Demand a Speedy Trial, which represents to the Court and the State that the Defendant is ready to go to trial and the Court must give the State a finite period of time to get ready. Usually 30 days or so.
