Opinion ID: 2168343
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Constitutional Guarantees of a Speedy Trial

Text: Having found no Rule 1100 violation, our remaining inquiry is whether the delay at issue violated appellant's constitutional rights to a speedy trial and thereby deprived appellant of due process of law under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution guarantee a criminal defendant the right to a speedy trial. [2] Pursuant to these constitutional guarantees, this Court will analyze and weigh, in accordance with the U.S. Supreme Court's speedy trial analysis established in Barker v. Wingo, supra , the following four factors: (1) whether the pretrial delay was uncommonly long; (2) whether the government or the criminal defendant is more to blame for that delay; (3) whether, in due course, the defendant asserted his right to a speedy trial; and (4) whether the defendant suffered prejudice because of the delay. Barker, supra, 407 U.S. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2191-92. A finding in the defendant's favor of any one of the four factors, standing alone, does not constitute a speedy trial violation. Id. at 533, 92 S.Ct. at 2193-94. Rather, each of the four factors are related and each must be weighed carefully in the court's evaluation of a criminal defendant's claim that his speedy trial rights were violated. Id.