State v. Brown

VAUGHN, Judge.

Defendant contends that since he was arrested in November 1971 and his case was not heard until February 1973, his right to a speedy trial has been impermissibly abridged. We disagree. Like many other constitutional rights, that of a speedy trial is not absolute with the result that not every delay is improper. “The essential ingredient [of justice] is orderly expedition and not mere speed.” Smith v. United States, 360 U.S. 1, 10, 3 L.Ed. 2d 1041, 1048, quoted in United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 313, 30 L.Ed. 2d 468, 474. Indeed the very nature of the criminal process…