Supreme Court says defendant can't blame lawyer for delays

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that delays caused by a poor defendant's lawyer cannot result in a violation of the suspect's constitutional right to a speedy trial.

By a 7-2 vote, the justices said the Vermont Supreme Court erred in throwing out the conviction of career criminal Michael Brillon for domestic assault on the grounds that his right to a speedy trial had been violated.

He had been held in jail without bail for nearly three years and went through six public defenders before being tried. He fired three of the lawyers while two of them withdrew from the case. The sixth lawyer finally tried the case.

Generally, the right to a speedy trial is not affected by a defendant's self-inflicted delays. But the Vermont Supreme Court ruled the delays in Brillon's case had been caused by inaction by overburdened public defenders and blamed the state, which pays for lawyers for poor defendants.

In an opinion written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the high court disagreed. She said the Vermont Supreme Court erred in holding the state responsible for the delays.

She attributed the delays to Brillon as each of his lawyers had requested more time. She said the state does not bear responsibility as there was no evidence of a breakdown in the public defender system.

(Reporting by James Vicini, Editing by Alan Elsner)