It's Time to Quit Ignoring Sixth Amendment

It would be hard to find a part of the Constitution less heeded than the Sixth Amendment.

We simply haven't figured a way to make it work.

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial," says the honored document. Yet, crimes routinely are prosecuted not speedily, but much later -- often years later.

Instead of abiding by the Constitution, we practice the principle, "The wheels of justice grind slowly."

So, let's do something to speed those wheels up.

While reading and listening to the news of the Cottonwood football coach accused of sexual relations with a youth, I thought how much a person, if innocent, surely wants the case quickly brought forth and settled. The person's reputation is at stake. He or she wants that reputation cleared, and cleared quickly.

Sometimes, only a speedy trial can provide that justice. In the Cottonwood case, though, charges were dropped, which is the equivalent of a quick and speedy trial.

I also thought of the Josh Powell case, and how he, too, claimed innocence and could have said, "I have a Sixth Amendment right here." In retrospect, we wonder but what there wasn't enough evidence to bring the case to court, but surely we also would want time to gather evidence for a conviction instead of taking the case to court prematurely.
Here's what we can do: Let the accused have the option of invoking the Sixth Amendment. When they invoke it -- asking for a speedy trial -- then we hold a discovery court. inviting every witness we know of, and bringing every evidence we have available, and everything is presented to the court.

It does seem there will be many cases where all the evidence should be available quickly. In the case of the Cottonwood coach, for example, ist seems much or all of the evidence would be from witnesses? Is is so hard to round up all the witnesses up in a day or two? It seems the evidence could be assembled quickly, with witnesses on both sides quickly identified.

So round them up and hold this court of inquiry, this discovery court.

The court then judges whether it is reasonable to expect that more evidence will come forth if waited for. If it appears the evidence is already available, the case is given a quick court date.

It is time we implement the Sixth Amendment. Here is a way, a mechanism, to bring practice to the principle of a speedy trial.