Court: Pre-trial motions don't count in deadline

Lawyer Blogs

The Supreme Court says the time used to deal with pretrial motions cannot be used to automatically extend the required deadline for a suspect's speedy trial.

The high court on Thursday refused to grant the government's request to reinstate Jason Louis Tinklenberg's conviction of gun possession by a felon and possession of material used to manufacture methamphetamine.

The Speedy Trial Act says a defendant's trial should begin within 70 days of his indictment or his initial appearance before a judicial officer.

The high court ruled that the time used to dispense with pretrial motions cannot be counted toward the Speedy Trial deadline, upholding the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to throw out Tinklenberg's conviction.

The appeals court had said that pretrial motions count as an exception when they cause actual delays. But "the filing of a pretrial motion falls within this provision irrespective of whether it actually causes, or is expected to cause, delay in starting a trial," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the opinion for the court.

He was joined by Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas joined the decision only in part.

Related listings

  • Ex-IMF chief may use tried, tricky consent defense

    Ex-IMF chief may use tried, tricky consent defense

    Lawyer Blogs 05/25/2011

    Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has shed little public light on his account of what happened between him and a hotel housekeeper who accused him of sexually attacking her. But in a potentially revealing hint, one of hi...

  • Supreme Court to CA: Cut prison inmates by 33,000

    Supreme Court to CA: Cut prison inmates by 33,000

    Lawyer Blogs 05/24/2011

    The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that California must drastically reduce its prison population to relieve severe overcrowding that has exposed inmates to increased violence, disease and death. The decision, however, doesn't mean the prison gates w...

  • Appeals court reverses Countrywide suit dismissal

    Appeals court reverses Countrywide suit dismissal

    Lawyer Blogs 05/20/2011

    An appeals court has overturned the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit brought by investors against mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp.The move by a panel of the California 2nd District Court of Appeal reverses the decision by a Superior Cour...

Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

Business News

New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read