A Lawyer Outwits the Law
After sitting in jail for sixty days without a trial, an enterprising young attorney secures his own release by quoting the state code.
Charles F. Repath, the young lawyer and insurance agent over whom a charge of forgery had been hanging since last April, was discharged from custody yesterday by Judge Greene. Repath's case was to have come up next week, but he appeared in court yesterday and as his own attorney demanded his release on the ground that, although over sixty days had passed since the grand jury indicted him, he had not been accorded a trial. He then called the attention of the court to section 1204 of Second Hill’s Code, which reads: 'If a defendant indicted or informed against for an offense, whose trial has not been postponed upon his application, be not brought to trial within sixty days after the indictment is found or the information filed, the court must order it to be dismissed, unless good cause to the contrary be shown.' This section seems to have been entirely overlooked by Assistant Prosecuting Attorney McBride, but he immediately gave notice of an appeal.
“He then called the attention of the court to section 1204 of Second Hill’s Code... the court must order it to be dismissed, unless good cause to the contrary be shown.”
Repath’s use of 'speedy trial' rights to check prosecutorial power remains a cornerstone of the American legal system. Today, in a city where court backlogs often deny justice for months or years, his demand for a fair timeline resonates as a potent critique of bureaucratic inefficiency.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.