BREAKING: Karmen McKenzie Statement on Speedy Trial Act

In response to the signing of the Speedy Trial Act today, Karmen McKenzie has released the following statement to Weazel News.

This is a statement I am making on my own behalf and does not reflect the opinion of my office or that of my running mate.

In regards to the Speedy Trial Act, the pressure that was placed on signing this act after it sat stagnant due to lack of follow-up may have left us in a worse position than when we started. The back and forth concerning the amendments made and the compromises that resulted from that ultimately lead to what Governor Paxton had originally tried to prevent. Had we not stuck to listing out Articles I, II, III, instead of summarizing them as “violent crimes” we would not have ended up with a signed bill that did not include treason and terrorism. Human errors happen, but so do amendments to bills. Listing out the offenses leaves us open to more loopholes down the line and the need to account for updating this act in the event a new violent crime is added. I plan to continue to work with Chief Justice John MacLamar and the Judiciary to advocate for a correction of this error either from the Lt. Governor seat in the 3rd Congress or as a concerned citizen.

Karmen McKenzie

After reviewing the bill closely, our analysts have spotted the issue as well. Not only does the Speedy Trial Act fail to carve out the re-offender bail violation to include treason and terrorism, but there are other issues regarding the longevity of this legislation. Since the amendment authors insisted on listing out every offense by name instead of referring to the well-defined “violent crimes” category from the San Andreas Penal Code, they now have a bill which will be outdated as soon as the Penal Code is updated to add or remove offenses under the relevant categories that should be included under default bail conditions. This oversight and resistance to the Governor’s suggestion is likely to cause headaches for the Judiciary, so one has to wonder if Representative Nash and his collaborators consulted any of the judges before proposing this amendment.