The Constitution guarantees every person accused of a crime the right to a “speedy trial.”
In Michigan, that promise is backed by both statute and court rules meant to prevent prosecutors from dragging their feet while someone’s life hangs in limbo. In theory, it protects defendants from endless pretrial delays, wrongful incarceration, and pressure tactics.
But in practice and especially in Barry and Kent County, prosecutors have turned the speedy trial clock into a weapon. Instead of ensuring fairness, it’s being manipulated to corner people into plea deals.
The Law: What Speedy Trial Rights Are Supposed to Mean
Michigan law requires that criminal cases move forward without unnecessary delay. For incarcerated defendants, the expectation is clear: the trial should begin within 180 days. The Michigan Court Rules also stress that adjournments should be rare, for good cause, and never at the expense of the defendant’s rights.
The principle is simple: the state has the power and resources, so the burden is on them to act quickly.
If they can’t, the charges should be dismissed.
The Reality in Kent County
Kent County prosecutors have learned how to flip that principle on its head. Instead of treating the speedy trial rule as a safeguard for defendants, they exploit loopholes to stall cases while blaming defense attorneys or court calendars.
Here’s how it plays out:
Endless Adjournments: Prosecutors routinely request “good cause” delays, citing everything from witness availability to lab backlogs, stretching cases out for months or years. Karen McDonald, Vice President of Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM) was called out by Judge Hartig for doing the same thing.
Pretrial Incarceration as Leverage: Defendants sit in jail waiting. They lose jobs, housing, and sometimes custody of their children. Every day locked up adds pressure to “just take the deal.”
Weaponized Deadlines: Prosecutors let the clock run until a defendant asserts their right to a speedy trial. Then, suddenly, they offer a plea bargain: take it now, or risk going to trial unprepared, with the odds stacked against you.
Courtroom Bullying: Judges, often aligned with prosecutors, scold defendants for daring to assert their rights, framing it as if the defendant is “clogging the system” rather than demanding fairness. A tactic Judge Michael Schipper is also exceptional at this.
The end result? Innocent or overcharged people take guilty pleas just to escape the nightmare of waiting.
Chris Becker’s Role: A Bigger Problem for Michigan
This isn’t just a Kent County issue.
It’s a statewide crisis, and the person sitting at the center of it is Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, who also happens to be the current President of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan (PAAM).
As PAAM President, Becker has an outsized influence on training, policy, and the culture of prosecutors across the state.
So when he’s willfully denying constitutional rights in Kent County, it sends a message: this behavior is acceptable.
But let’s be clear, here: it isn’t.
Speedy trial rights are not optional. They are fundamental. Watching the state’s leading prosecutor turn them into bargaining chips should alarm every Michigan resident who thinks justice is supposed to mean fairness.
Maybe, instead of modeling coercion and delay tactics for the whole state, Becker should find a hobby that doesn’t involve trampling people’s rights. Something harmless.
Something like laser tag. At least then when he’s shooting at targets, nobody’s freedom, family, or future is on the line.
Why This Matters
Kent County has one of the busiest criminal dockets in the state, and that volume creates incentives to move cases fast. But rather than moving them fairly, prosecutors use the backlog as a cudgel.
Efficiency over justice: Plea deals are faster than trials, and prosecutors get to tout high conviction rates.
Disappearing accountability: Few trials mean fewer opportunities for the public to see prosecutorial misconduct exposed.
Systemic coercion: People aren’t making free choices; they’re making survival decisions under duress.
This isn’t justice. It’s bureaucracy running on intimidation.
What Needs to Change
If Michigan is actually serious about honoring speedy trial rights, here’s where reform must begin:
Real enforcement of deadlines: Courts must dismiss charges when prosecutors blow past timelines, no excuses. And someone needs to find out how these prosecutors are gaming the data on holding people for months and years past the legal requirements.
Judicial independence: Judges need to stop rubber-stamping adjournments and start protecting defendants’ rights.
Transparency in plea deals: Courts should track and publish data on how often plea bargains follow speedy trial requests.
Community oversight: Court watchers, journalists, and advocacy groups must keep shining a light on these abuses.
Accountability at the top: PAAM should not be led by someone modeling open disregard for constitutional rights.
Kent County isn’t unique; it’s just a sharp example of how power works when unchecked. A right that was meant to protect people has been flipped into a tool to crush them. And unless communities demand accountability, “justice delayed” will keep being “justice denied.”
Clutch Justice’s Call to Action:
If you or someone you know has faced this kind of coercion in Kent County courts, share your story.
Our communities can’t fight what stays in the shadows.
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