The Have and Have-Nots of Timeliness
In criminal cases defendants are constitutionally entitled to timely justice but may also benefit from the increased uncertainty and decay in the quality of evidence that almost inevitably flows from long delays and asymmetrically benefits criminal defendants. Indeed, in some jurisdictions there is a decrease in guilty pleas as trial delays lengthen.
For victims and the community there is often a feeling of extended grief, anguish and alarm.
The Kent Cody Barlow case, Utah Fourth District Court, shows elements of all these features of delay in criminal cases.
Kent Cody Barlow Case Delayed Further
On May 2, 2022, two three-year old boys, Odin Ratliff and Hunter Jackson, were killed when Kent Cody Barlow, allegedly high on methamphetamine and driving at 120 miles per hour in a 45 mile per hour zone, drove his car off the road into the corral they were playing in. This case has been plagued by delay since its inception:
- Upgrades in the charges from manslaughter to first degree murder reset the case.
- November 16, 2022, Defence Attorney Benjamin Aldana moved to suppress blood test evidence claiming that it was acquired illegally.
- Aldana moved to adjourn the preliminary hearing which was moved to November, 2023.
- October 10, 2023, Aldana accused the state of vindictive prosecution and Judge Robert A. Lund moved the preliminary hearing to January 29-30.
- The Utah County Public Defender’s reported severely low staffing levels and heavy caseload in November 2023.
- Aldana tested positive for Covid-19 the day before the preliminary hearing set for January 29, 2024.
- May 19, 2024, Aldana moved to disqualify Judge Lund for bias against Barlow.
- On July 30, 2024, Judge Lund held a Court hearing with the supervisors from the Utah County Public Defenders Association to find out why the defence was causing such difficulty. In the hearing, Aldana’s supervisor, Lisa Estrada, informed Judge Lund that Barlow wanted no other attorney than Aldana and requested the continuity of Barlow’s representation, despite repeated delays.
- Aldana requested to leave the defence after his father passed away. Judge Lund denied the request but the State Supreme Court overruled him on September 13, 2024.
“Judge Lund said in the hearing Monday that the defense attorney left on the case was simply not prepared to take over the trial on their own,” reports Jake Taylor for KUTV. As Judge Lund’s term comes to a close this year, he will no longer be able to oversee the completion of the case on time. The new judge will have to schedule the trial for sometime in 2025.
The mothers of the two children are at a loss. “How many times are we being told we have to wait, to put our lives on pause, our jobs on pause, our grieving on pause,” said Theresa Ratliff, Odin’s mother. Brooke Jackson, Hunter’s mother, laid the blame squarely at the feat of the defence: “This case has become [about] how many temper tantrums the defence lawyers [can] get away with.”
Theresa Ratliff had previously summed up her experience on June 26, 2024 before this most recent delay: “Experts are being paid to be here every time and every time that I am here, I am sacrificing my career which I will do to fight for my son, but it’s getting very hard for me to continue to come when I feel like I get thrown back every time I’m here.”
The two three-year-old boys would have been twice their age by the time this case comes to its conclusion. In this case, no one – not the defendant, the mothers, the children, nor the public – has received timely justice. This is a loss for everyone involved. However, there is little doubt that mothers who feel the loss more keenly.
