Supreme Court: Right to speedy trial ends at conviction

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with the state of Montana in a case challenging the constitutionality of long delays between a criminal’s conviction and sentencing.

{mosads}The court unanimously said the Sixth Amendment’s right to a speedy trail does not apply once a defendant has been found guilty at trial or has pleaded guilty to criminal charges.

The case — Betterman v. Montana — focuses on Brandon Betterman, who pleaded guilty to jumping bail after failing to appear in court on domestic assault charges. Betterman argued the 14-month gap between his conviction and sentencing violated his constitutional rights. 

“The course of a criminal prosecution is composed of discrete segments,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in delivering the opinion of the court. “During the segment between accusation and conviction, the Sixth Amendment’s Speedy Trial Clause protects the presumptively innocent from long enduring unresolved criminal charges. The Sixth Amendment speedy trial right, however, does not extend beyond conviction, which terminated the presumption of innocence.”

The court’s decision affirms the Montana Supreme Court ruling affirming Betterman’s conviction and seven-year prison sentence.