Opinion ID: 1671765
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: conclusion

Text: ¶ 272. The majority's affirmance of Beckwith's conviction places us on the precipice of legal misadventure. Beckwith's constitutional rights to a speedy trial and due process have been seriously and egregiously violated. The State delayed prosecution of Beckwith for some 9,706 days and, with the legal equivalent of a straight face, asks us to ignore Beckwith's constitutional rights to a speedy trial and due process. The task of this Court is to determine whether or not the trial Beckwith received was constitutionally fair. Clearly, it was not. His trial, conducted in a circus-like atmosphere, was rife with discovery errors, as pointed out by Justice Sullivan's thoughtful dissent, and riddled with egregious constitutional errors. Both practically and legally, the majority opinion results in a total eradication of the guarantee of a speedy trial from the constitutional lexicon. For the foregoing reasons, I must dissent.