Blondejustice had a post recently about a woman in Albany who had been charged with the murder of her elderly mother. This woman had been convicted of killing another person several years before – when she was a he. He/she spent several years in jail and, after he/she was released, underwent a sex change operation. I think that’s probably a pretty smart thing to do, I mean, to get away from the whole “oh look there is the guy who murdered that person” stigma.

Anyway, I digress. The poing of Blondie’s post was to discuss a poster that had been created by the police department – a fake wanted poster. Apparently, word around town is that there is absolutely no proof against he/she and the only thing they’ve got is the word of her crackhead ex-boyfriend who says she admitted the murder to him. Yeah, great. That’s credible. Corinne (that’s her name, I think) has been held in the Albany County Jail without bail for the past seven months. Blondie asks, can they hold someone in jail for seven months without an indictment and says maybe someone who used to practice up there can tell us.

The primary reason why this woman was held for seven months without bail was because she does not have (yet) have a speedy trial claim. While she might have a constitutional speedy trial claim (but I doubt it), New York’s speedy trial statute does not apply to people charged with murder. Therefore, she could sit in jail for as long as those fine folks deemed it necessary before they indicted her and there was probably nothing anyone could do except eventually ask for a bail. Furthermore, in Albany County, unlike in the big city, Grand Jury meets two or three days a week. They don’t have 24/7 Grand Juries who can indict people at will. And, despite the fact that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich, the new DA (who is younger than me and has even less experience) ran on a ‘kinder and gentler’ platform and would probably believe it unethical to try to get an indictment against this person.

In other news, I did my first preliminary hearing in the state of Maryland. Actually, it was the first time I’ve cross-examined someone in over a year. Let’s just say I’m a little rusty. Okay, let’s be totally honest. I sucked. I need practice. Yikes.