The Boston Bar Association filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts in the case of Commonwealth v. Taylor. The BBA makes the case that when the prosecution fails to turn over mandatory automatic discovery, resulting continuances do not necessarily stop the speedy-trial clock. The BBA in its brief asks the court to resolve the tension between the requirement of Mass. R. Crim. P. 14 (a) that the Commonwealth produce certain categories of mandatory, automatic discovery, on the one hand, and the requirement of Mass. R. Crim. P. 36 (b) that defendants be brought to trial within one year (with only limited exceptions), on the other.
