A man who spent 13 years in prison and nearly 14 more in a state mental hospital while awaiting a trial that never came has been ordered released by a state appeals court.
Just before George Vasquez was scheduled to get out of prison, Los Angeles County prosecutors made a plea to the court: Don’t let him free — he’s too dangerous to live in public.
That would have allowed the state to keep him in a mental hospital indefinitely until he no longer was considered a danger to society. Butler was placed inInstead, preliminary proceedings dragged on through more than 50 court hearings involving six prosecutors and eight public defenders who agreed to successive postponements.
Because the proceedings are held in civil court, they aren’t covered by the constitutional right to a speedy trial in criminal cases, but Butler still deserved a “timely” trial and suffered a “significant deprivation of liberty,” according to the appellate court.
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