Federal Criminal Lawyer FAQ» Federal Criminal Lawyer FAQ: Rights | Right to a Speedy Trial http://www.federalcrimefaq.com Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:55:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Can the police search my garbage without a warrant? http://www.federalcrimefaq.com/can-the-police-search-my-garbage-without-a-warrant/ http://www.federalcrimefaq.com/can-the-police-search-my-garbage-without-a-warrant/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:53:59 +0000 admin http://federalcrimeattorneyfaq.floridacriminalrecordsfaq.com/?p=54 A lot depends on where your garbage is located.  In the 1988 case of California v. Greenwood, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the police did not have to have a warrant to search a plastic bag full of garbage located on the curb in front of a private home where the bag was located outside the curtilage of the home.  Such a search violates the fourth amendment to the U.S. Constitution only if the person discarding the garbage has an expectation of privacy in his garbage that society accepts as objectively reasonable.

]]> http://www.federalcrimefaq.com/can-the-police-search-my-garbage-without-a-warrant/feed/ 0 What is the right to a speedy trial? http://www.federalcrimefaq.com/what-is-the-right-to-a-speedy-trial/ http://www.federalcrimefaq.com/what-is-the-right-to-a-speedy-trial/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:53:31 +0000 admin http://federalcrimeattorneyfaq.floridacriminalrecordsfaq.com/?p=52 The right to a speedy trial is found in the sixth amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  It is intended to ensure that a person charged with a federal crime is not subjected to unreasonably lengthy incarceration prior to his trial.  Violations of this right can result in a case being dismissed.  Speedy-trial challenges are subject to a four-factor test established by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Barker v. Wingo.  These factors are:

  1. The length of delay between being indicted and tried;
  2. The reason for the delay
  3. Assertion of the right to a speedy trial by the accused; and
  4. Prejudice to the accused.

In order to trigger a speedy-trial analysis, an accused person must first show that the length of the delay between indictment and trial was presumptively prejudicial.  Only if this is demonstrated is the court required to examine the other three factors.  Delays exceeding one year are usually found to be presumptively prejudicial.

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