Q: In the state of Michigan, how many days can a defendant be held without a preliminary hearing being conducted
My fiance was arrested based on a report I can prove is false. Because of his history from 20 years ago, and the fact that he is on parole, he was given an unreasonably high bond. He has now been held 48 days since the original charges and 45 days since the secondary charges of resist and obstruct. He demanded his right to a speedy trial and to a preliminary hearing immediately. No preliminary hearing has been held, his court appointed defense attorney will not answer the phone for either him nor I, and will not even now give us the date when the preliminary hearing is to be held. So when does prejudice attach?
A:
Something unusual is happening here...I'm wondering if he has been actually arraigned on these charges as opposed to just being picked up on a parole violation. If he was arraigned, he would have needed to consent to waiving the 21-day rule by this point, or waived his prelim. Making matters more complex, though, is the fact that he is on parole....he is sitting on what's called "dead time" - meaning he's not getting credit on any potential sentence right now. I would imagine there is a parole hold on him anyway so bond doesn't matter much because he's not going anywhere anyway. Some of the strategy involved with new charges while on parole is that if you run the prelim and are bond over, that can trigger disposition of the violation even if you later go to trial.
His attorney probably won't talk with you unless your fiance has given him permission to discuss the case with you. And if your fiance doesn't know a date, it's likely because no date has been assigned by the court yet. Depending on the court, you can do a case search to see what's going on with a case on your own.
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