Man is convicted of 2 crimes, charged in homicide while awaiting trial in 2003 murder-attempt case
There are a number of reasons why 32-year-old John Brock still hasn’t been tried in a 2003 attempted murder that took place in Philadelphia.
Among them: Brock was convicted in two other unrelated cases; went on the lam; was involved for years in a landmark speedy-trial appeal; lost one defense lawyer when the attorney died of a heart attack; and saw his case further delayed when another defense lawyer not only suffered a heart attack but was indicted a short time later in a money-laundering case, reports the Philadelphia Daily News.
An earlier Philadelphia Daily News story provides more details about the Maryland case against Brock’s court-appointed attorney, J. Michael Farrell, 63, who is accused of serving as in-house counsel to a drug ring.
But Brock, who has served his time for the two convictions, is now being held without bail because he is charged, in another unrelated crime, with murdering a worker at a Philadelphia homeless shelter last month.
Relatives of the slain victim, Edward Barksdale, 43, wonder whether he would still be alive if Brock had been tried sooner in the 2003 case, the newspaper reports.
However, a 2013 ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Brock’s speedy-trial appeal established precedent that may help victims in other cases.
Reversing trial and intermediate appellate court rulings that Brock’s speedy-trial rights had been violated, the commonwealth’s top court found that Brock could still be tried in the 2003 attempted-murder case. That’s because he isn’t allowed to benefit from going on the lam and no motion was filed to assert his speedy-trial rights, the article explains.
It was after the high court’s ruling that Brock’s trial was delayed by the heart attacks of two defense lawyers, as well as Farrell’s indictment.
At this point, it isn’t clear whether the 2003 case or the murder case will be tried first.
