Attorney General Merrick Garland has declined a lawmaker’s call for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate alleged violations of the right to a speedy trial for defendants facing charges for their actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) asked Garland about the 6th Amendment trial rights of various Jan. 6 defendants during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. During the hearing, Clyde noted he had toured the DC Department of Corrections last week and met with several defendants still in pretrial detainment over the charges they face due to their actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
During his questioning of Garland, Clyde noted that the Speedy Trial Act of 1974 codifies the timelines surrounding the portion of the 6th Amendment that describes a person’s right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury. Clyde noted that the 1974 law states a trial “must commence within 70 days from the date the information or indictment was filed, or from the date the defendant appears before an officer of the court in which the charge is pending, whichever is later.”…