8th Circuit decides N.D. case Tuesday, March 28, 2023

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued an opinion in a North Dakota case.

In United States v. Cooley the court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant's request for an evidentiary hearing on his motion to dismiss for a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial; while the 28-month delay between the indictment and the motion to dismiss is presumptively prejudicial, a consideration of the factors set out in Barker v. Wingo, 470 U.S. 514 (1972) leads to the conclusion that the district court did not err in denying the motion to dismiss as the delay was not of such length as to eliminate the need to show particularized prejudice; as there was no evidence that the delay impeded defendant's defense or threatened to deprive him of a fair trial, there was no Sixth Amendment violation.

Read the court's opinion at http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/23/03/222201P.pdf