People v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County
Annotate this CaseAt issue in this case was under what circumstances a 17-year delay in bringing to trial a Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA) petition violates an individual's Fourteenth Amendment due process right to a timely trial. The Court of Appeal held that while a substantial portion of the delay here resulted from the failure of individual appointed attorneys to move defendant's case forward, the extraordinary length of the delay resulted from a systemic breakdown in the public defender system and must be attributed to the state. The court held that the breakdown forced defendant to choose between having prepared counsel and a timely trial, but he had a right to both under the constitution. Therefore, the trial court did not err in finding that defendant's due process right to a timely trial was violated and the court denied the People's petition for review.
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