Opinion ID: 198181
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Miscellaneous Factors: Length of Delay and Actual Prejudice

Text: 83 Two final closely related considerations merit discussion: the length of delay and actual prejudice. On its face, the length of delay in this case--more than twice the extent statutorily permissible--is troubling. At first blush the sheer length of unexcused delay might suggest actual prejudice, but Barnes has never once claimed that the delay adversely affected her ability to prepare for trial, much less articulated any facts suggesting how she was actually prejudiced by the tardy trial date. The absence of any consequential prejudice to defendant points toward permitting a new trial. See Taylor, 487 U.S. at 341, 108 S.Ct. 2413. 84 Weighing all of these circumstances as a whole, we conclude that dismissal without prejudice is the appropriate remedy. In fashioning the proper curative, we find dispositive that the crimes charged are grave, that there is no evidence of bad faith conduct on the part of the government, that the record reveals no actual prejudice to the defendant, and that defendant contributed to some of the delay by repeatedly seeking adjournments and by not asserting her rights as soon as the violation occurred.