Remer J. Dasher v. Norman Stripling, Probation Officer

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

I

Remer Dasher was indicted in 1974 by a grand jury in Long County, Georgia, on a charge of conspiracy to murder his wife. The state trial court, granting a succession of defense motions based on the defendant’s precarious health, continued his trial from term to term for four years. In September 1978, the trial court ruled that no further continuances would be granted on account of Dasher’s illness unless competent medical evidence showed that his health would likely improve so that he could stand trial in the next term. At a subsequent hearing on another motion for a…