Honor the 6th Amendment
Sonya Cisneros
Issue date: 9/7/07 Section: The Skiff View
- Page 1 of 1
Rights of accused not honored in sexual assault case
The Bill of Rights grants all Americans the right to a speedy and public trial.
The case involving three former TCU athletes facing sexual assault charges has certainly been made public, yet has been anything but speedy.
Former athletes Lorenzo Labell Jones, 20, Shannon Behling, 20, and Virgil Allen Taylor, 19, were arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a freshman female student last October, according to court documents.
It's been 316 days since the incident was first publicized and there has been little advancement.
While Behling and Taylor each posted $25,000 bail bonds after their arrests, Jones remained in the Tarrant County jail after an arrest last November for bail-jumping.
Last week a judge reinstated bail for Jones, who had spent about 300 days in custody.
Jones' lawyer argued that he wasn't being granted a speedy trial and the judge agreed.
The right to a speedy trial isn't only important for the accused, though. It's also for the victim and in this case, the TCU community.
The defendants aren't being given a timely trial, the victim isn't getting the justice she deserves and the public isn't being made aware of what happened.
It's been almost a year and there are still no answers. This case is one that shouldn't be forgotten and swept under the rug; TCU needs to know that justice has been served.
While the actions of the suspects are not being condoned, their rights are being defended.Keeping a suspect in jail for a long period of time is not only expensive for the public but also prolongs closure.
With a trial still in the future, a victim cannot move on from an incident and justice cannot be served.
This case is one that will continue to loom over TCU like a bad dream, constantly resurfacing until the right people wake up and get moving.
Opinion editor Sonya Cisneros for the editorial board.
The Bill of Rights grants all Americans the right to a speedy and public trial.
The case involving three former TCU athletes facing sexual assault charges has certainly been made public, yet has been anything but speedy.
Former athletes Lorenzo Labell Jones, 20, Shannon Behling, 20, and Virgil Allen Taylor, 19, were arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a freshman female student last October, according to court documents.
It's been 316 days since the incident was first publicized and there has been little advancement.
While Behling and Taylor each posted $25,000 bail bonds after their arrests, Jones remained in the Tarrant County jail after an arrest last November for bail-jumping.
Last week a judge reinstated bail for Jones, who had spent about 300 days in custody.
Jones' lawyer argued that he wasn't being granted a speedy trial and the judge agreed.
The right to a speedy trial isn't only important for the accused, though. It's also for the victim and in this case, the TCU community.
The defendants aren't being given a timely trial, the victim isn't getting the justice she deserves and the public isn't being made aware of what happened.
It's been almost a year and there are still no answers. This case is one that shouldn't be forgotten and swept under the rug; TCU needs to know that justice has been served.
While the actions of the suspects are not being condoned, their rights are being defended.Keeping a suspect in jail for a long period of time is not only expensive for the public but also prolongs closure.
With a trial still in the future, a victim cannot move on from an incident and justice cannot be served.
This case is one that will continue to loom over TCU like a bad dream, constantly resurfacing until the right people wake up and get moving.
Opinion editor Sonya Cisneros for the editorial board.
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