State v. MacDonald

A defendant’s right to a speedy trial is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and is made obligatory on the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. Klopfer v. North Carolina (1967), 386 U. S. 213. Article I, Section 10 of the Ohio Constitution, also affords an accused the same guarantees as the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. See State v. Butler (1969), 19 Ohio St. 2d 55.

The United States Supreme Court, in Barker v. Wingo (1972), 407 U. S. 514, declined to establish the exact number of days within which a trial must be held. While the court…