In the New York trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, his lawyers are arguing that the case should be dropped because Ghailani was denied his right to a speedy trial (Rueters).
The New York Daily News reports that Ghailani faces "224 counts of murder and other charges" for his alleged role in the bombings of two U.S. embassies: Kenya and Tanzania.
One of the fundamental rights of a defendant is the right to a speedy trial. While the Sixth Amendment grants this right, it does not specify exactly how long is too long. When deciding if the defendant's right has been violated, the judge in the case has to make note of how long the delay is, why there was a delay, and if the delay has hurt the defendant's case. (FindLaw)
Ghailani was detained at Guantanamo Bay from 2006 to June of 2009. He is currently being held in New York for his trial. The government has said that the reason for the delay of his trial was that they were "gathering high-value intelligence from Ghailani during interrogations."
His lawyers stated that this was not a valid reason for the delay: the government "clearly chose to ignore his Constitutional rights ... and instead chose to transform him from an accused defendant to an intelligence asset."
All eyes are on this ground-breaking trial.
- Do you need a New York criminal defense attorney? (FindLaw)
- Right to a speedy jury trial. (FindLaw)
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