Speedy Trial Act goes into effect June 1: What this means for victims and families

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed the Speedy Trial Act into law last week and it goes into effect June 1.

It’s all part of an effort to reduce court backlogs and ensure swift justice for victims and their families.

It also allows the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court to appoint a sitting or retired judge to preside over violent crime cases.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall considers the Speedy Trial Act crucial legislation.

“What we’ve attempted to do is to provide another tool for both prosecutors as well as our office at having violent crime cases heard,” said Attorney Marshall. “It’s not just an urban problem that we’re seeing in the sense of backlogs in many of our major cities, but also our rural trial judges have limited docket time to be able to conduct jury trials.”

One family hoping to see the benefits of this is Aniah Blanchard’s. They’ve been waiting nearly six years for her alleged killer to stand trial for her murder.

“I really feel like the state has been ready, I feel like Yazeed’s attorney has been pretty much pushing this back. His time is up now, so it’s time for him to face what he has done,” said Aniah Blanchard’s father, Elijah Blanchard.

Blanchard said with this law enacted he hopes to get the ball rolling.

“The lord works in mysterious ways even though we’re broken, but now we’re going to see how good God is with the pieces that were broken,” said Blanchard.

Alabama Attorney Andrew Segal with said there are various pros and cons for both parties to the new law.

“I think the general public, with the exception of a few of us defense lawyers, will think it’s a good idea. The potential disadvantage of this is lawyers feeling that they’re not sufficiently ready and people getting a substandard of justice if their lawyers are not adequately prepared,” said Segal.

Since this law has been enacted, Attorney General Marshall asked the Chief Justice to appoint a visiting judge to Aniah Blanchard’s case.

Aniah Blanchard’s father said no trial date has been set as of yet.