The Judicial Waiting Game, Revisited - Editorial
We went into this week gearing up to cover the long-awaited trial of James Potter in Barnstable Superior Court, set to begin on Monday.
Instead, we are writing this editorial expressing frustrations at yet another delay in getting to trial. Consider it an extension of our editorial from August 2023, “Playing The Judicial Waiting Game.”
The trial has been postponed again, this time until the end of August—at which point it will have been more than three years since Mr. Potter was arrested and charged with several felonies relating to the sexual abuse of minors.
We’ve lost count of how many times hearings and trial start dates have been set just to later be rescheduled months down the line. Most of the delays, based on court documents, have come about through requests from the commonwealth. Mr. Potter’s jury trial was, at one point, set to begin last July. That date was nixed because the then-assistant district attorney had tendered his resignation.
Trial was then set for January 6 of this year; obviously, it did not proceed as planned. Mr. Potter’s attorney filed for a continuance, resulting in a new trial start date of February 10—but that never happened either. Mr. Potter’s attorney had a scheduling conflict with the February date, so things were moved to May 5.
That brings us to the present day when, just this week, we learned that the trial was pushed back once again due to the unavailability of the commonwealth’s lead detective in the case. The commonwealth did indicate that it could proceed without the lead detective there, but the defense argued that her presence was required in order to mount a full defense.
Simply put, the back and forth is maddening—and if that is how we, a third party, feel, we can only imagine the stress and undue burden these delays have placed on those involved in the trial, including Mr. Potter and the alleged victims. A citizen’s right to a speedy trial is codified in the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution; this case, however, continues to drag on, and to whose benefit? Certainly not the alleged victims or defendant, who have had this case looming over their heads for the better part of three years now.
They say the wheels of justice turn slowly but grind exceedingly fine. That’s all well and good if true but these are real people with real lives, not just names on a docket. Neither they nor we, the people of the community, will wait forever. Kicking the can down the road does nothing but extend what has already been an excruciatingly long judicial process.
For the sake of all of those involved, we hope there are no further delays in getting this case to trial.