On November 10, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear argu­ments from attor­neys for a cap­i­tal defen­dant, Jamie Weis, and from the state con­cern­ing a three-and-a-half year delay in bring­ing his case to tri­al. For two years of that delay, the Weis defense team had no fund­ing, and for 14 months he was com­plete­ly with­out rep­re­sen­ta­tion. During this entire time, the state was staffed and fund­ed to pre­pare its pros­e­cu­tion of Weis. The Court will decide whether Weis’s con­sti­tu­tion­al right to a speedy tri­al was vio­lat­ed and whether that requires a dis­missal of charges, or at least pre­vents the state from seek­ing the death penal­ty. Weis was arrest­ed and charged with mur­der in 2006. He was assigned two attor­neys, but because of a cri­sis in the state’s indi­gent defense sys­tem, they were forced to resign and were not reas­signed with pay until close to the tri­al date. Weis suf­fers from psy­chosis, depres­sion and anx­i­ety, and has been detained in a coun­ty jail. He has attempt­ed sui­cide three times while awaiting trial.

The state asserts that much of the delay was caused by Weis’s attor­neys and that the prob­lems in the indi­gent defense sys­tem should not be attrib­uted to the state. They also ask the Court to decide these issues after the tri­al, dur­ing the ordi­nary appeals process. 

(See Weis v. Georgia, No. S09A1951 (Ga. Sup. Ct., pre­tri­al appeal to be argued Nov. 10, 2009)). See Weis’s Brief and State of Georgia’s Brief. See also Representation and Costs.

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