Court Opinion

ID: 9472212
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:52:45.234633+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:48.115611
License: Public Domain

GEORGE CLIFTON EDWARDS, Jr., Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I join the opinion of the court because, like my colleagues, I find it consistent with the congressional purposes in the enactment of the Speedy Trial Act. In the long run, it is probably better to enforce the act strictly than vary from those purposes by creating exceptions due to the exigent circumstances of this case. As Judge Peck has recorded, the reasons for delay here include:
1. The excused withdrawal of original counsel and time for his replacement to prepare;
2. The appointment of a former Western District of Tennessee District Judge, Harry Wellford, to the Court of Appeals, with consequent diminution of judge power in the district concerned; and
3. Surgery (for an aneurism) performed on the assigned judge, Judge Robert McRae, in the midst of the subject trial delay.
Sometimes the law seems to presume that judges are superhuman — a presumption rarely, if ever, borne out in fact. Judge McRae allowed himself 14 days off the bench for surgical repairs and recuperation — a length of time doubtless consistent with his sense of duty — if not with a decent respect for his health.
Nonetheless, as Judge Peck’s opinion indicates, the strict language of the statute was not followed. The statute simply does not contain an exemption for reasonable delay.