State v. Hatcher

HUSKINS, Justice.

Defendant asserts he was held in jail forty-one days without bail before a preliminary hearing was conducted and contends Ke was thus denied a speedy trial in violation of his rights under the Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. He moved to quash the bills of indictment on that ground and assigns as error the denial of his motion.

Constitutional requirements with respect to a speedy trial apply to a preliminary hearing if unreasonable delay in conducting the hearing works a similar delay in the trial. State v. Johnson, 275 N.C. 264, 167 S.E. 2d 274 (1969). Here,…