Sixth Amendment Speedy Trial Rights and Misdemeanor Citations (Special Attention Prosecutors & Judicial Officers)

By Robert Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret).

Among the rights the Sixth Amendment guarantees to a person accused in a criminal prosecution is the right to a speedy trial.  However, this right does not extend to everyone, even if considered to be a suspect in a criminal case, but only to those considered to be an “accused.” As noted by the U.S. Supreme Court: “On its face, the protection of the [Sixth] Amendment is activated only when a criminal prosecution has begun and extends only to those persons who have been ‘accused’ in the course of that prosecution.” (Italics added; United States v. Marion (1971) 404 U.S. 307, 313.) 

The bounds of this important constitutional protection were tested in the recent Sixth District Court of Appeal case of