Court Opinion

ID: 9578596
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:46:42.793262+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:52.471123
License: Public Domain

Weltner, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
This defendant was jailed on January 22, 1982, and remained in jail, without trial, for more than two years and three months.
Art. I, Sec. I, Par. XI.(a) of the Constitution of Georgia of 1983, provides in part: “In criminal cases, the defendant shall have a public and speedy trial by an impartial jury. . . .”
I cannot agree that, whatever the circumstances, a man can be held in jail without bond and without trial for more than twenty - seven months without violating our Constitution’s speedy trial requirement.
I am authorized to state that Justice Smith joins in this dissent.