Mbakwe's trial delayed, AGAIN
by GopherNation on Jul 14, 2010 1:45 PM CDT
in Gopher Basketball
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PrintTrevor Mbakwe's trial has been delayed yet again. The new trial date is set for August 23rd. Which means sometime in early August you can expect an announcement that it will be delayed into September. Mbakwe has seen delay after delay while his collegiate career hangs in the balance. What caused this particular delay?
Miami Dade state attorney's office spokeswoman Terry Chavez said the delay was caused by a conflict with the judge's schedule.
"The judge has a judicial conference to go to," Chavez said.
Kind of incredible when you think about it. I wonder if the conference is in Hawaii.
So what will Joel Maturi do about the latest development? Nothing, but there is a glimmer of hope that he will be allowed to play if there are more delays into the school year.
"If Trevor's case is continually delayed and it's by the prosecution and not by the defense, then I will truly be willing to look at the decision we've made," Maturi said. "I certainly don't want to have his collegiate career impacted. Last year, he was able to redshirt. We had hoped that it would have been resolved. It wasn't. Now any time that he misses would be a loss of his collegiate eligibility. We certainly don't want that. He has done the right things and done well in the classroom and socially. "It's my understanding that as a defendant he has a right to a quick trial. I've shared that with Trevor. If it's now Aug. 23, then it could still be resolved before school starts. If not, then I'm certainly open to review why it is not and look at the decision that was made."
Assuming he is not guilty (which I'll do considering we live in America and stuff), he is really getting jerked around. I hope this gets resolved quickly and he can move on with his life. I really, REALLY, want to see Mbakwe in a Gopher uniform next season but if the judicial system won't give him clarity and the U of Minn administration will not give him the benefit of the doubt then I hope he can transfer somewhere else to play basketball.
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Mbakwe timeline
November 13, 2008 – Signed with Gophers (for 09-10 season)
April 28, 2009 – Arrested
August 26, 2009 – Original Trial Date
December 14, 2009 – Modified Trial Date (delay requested by defense)
January 7, 2010 – Modified Trial Date (delay due to Mbakwe-supporting witnesses)
February 8, 2010 – Modified Trial Date (unable to determine who asked for delay)
March 8, 2010 – Modified Trial Date (unable to determine who asked for delay)
June 7, 2010 – Modified Trial Date (unable to determine who asked for delay)
July 26, 2010 – Modified Trial Date (mutually agreed-upon delay by both sides)
August 23, 2010 – Modified Trial Date (Judge going to judicial conference)
While this latest delay is frustrating for a number of reasons (didn’t this judge know about the conference, was it newly schedule, etc), the delays are not all because of the prosecution. At least part (twice if not more) of the delay is because of Mbakwe’s legal team and witnesses. Makes it harder to see Trevor as a martyr in this delay. If anyone else remembers any details of the delays above that I missed, that would be helpful.
One Of The Defense Witnesses Is Assistant Coach At MEMPHIS
Gee, wonder why he might try to delay testifying. Hmm.
by FortyYearCatFan on Jul 14, 2010 9:08 PM CDT reply actions
I worked for a judge. Judicial conferences are the only opportunities that judges get, outside of the courtroom, to speak with other judges about legal developments, and to work on their craft, outside of the daily meatgrinder of maintaining a court calendar.
In essence, they are “training camps” for judges, and they don’t have enough of them. Why?
Too many criminals (allegedly).
We don’t know the timeline here. The parties might have agreed to a delay to that week in August, the media runs with that delay, but never actually bothers to go back and find out whether the judge agreed to the delay. Just because the parties say “I want to delay the trial to August 13th” doesn’t mean much unless the Court signs off on it. And here, the court had a scheduling conflict.
That happened to me numerous times as both a law clerk and as an attorney. There’s no reason to blame anyone here.
Groundhog Day
Is there only one judge in Dade County?
Breaking down cognitive dissonance and group think since gasoline was cheap.
In most jurisdictions, once you are assigned a judge, that judge handles your entire case (you could imagine the difficulties of a new judge coming in now to try and learn all the nuances of Mbakwe’s case – if you’re looking for a 2-3 month delay, switching judges right now would be a perfect way to get said delay). As a litigant, you have a limited time period (about 10 days) at the beginning of a case assignment to ask to switch judges. After that, you normally have to ask the court for recusal of the judge – and normally, you’re alleging that the judge is compromised in some manner, so those instances are rare.
Notice how the lawyers haven’t asked for recusal. This length of time is, sadly, not abnormal.
it is very unfortunate
especially if he is as innocent as he proclaims to be.
What is most unfortunate is that one of his key witnesses is an assistant coach at Memphis. Memphis is trying to recruit him. That reeks of something.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you The Daily Gopher
by GopherNation on Jul 16, 2010 12:34 PM CDT up reply actions
all of this tells me one of two things
There are not enough judges and support staff…or we as a nation are sue happy and really need to consider taking a step back when we look at conflict in our lives. (I am assuming that a fair portion of judges spend a lot of time on non-violent crimes here).
No one is getting Rubio's rights unless they pry them from our cold dead fingers.
by TheEvilProfessor on Jul 21, 2010 2:02 AM CDT up reply actions
Well, I don’t think the issue here is whether America is “sue happy.” After all, it was the Prosecutor’s office who brought this criminal case, not a private citizen. The Prosecutor has limited resources and staff as compared to a private attorney, so they’re not going to bring criminal lawsuits unless there is a reason, backed with evidence, to do so.
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