More than five months have passed since three members of the 2005-2006 men's lacrosse team were charged with rape, but the case is still in its preliminary stages.
The defendants and the University have remained in the national spotlight for months, as the controversy and media frenzy surrounding the case continue.
With the reputations of both players and school on the line, the pace of the trial is a significant concern for the campus and community.
"You have an impression that it is taking a long time, and it is," said Robert Ekstrand, a lawyer who represented 35 lacrosse players this past spring, none of whom were indicted.
Some other people have questioned whether the defendants in the lacrosse case are receiving the speedy trial they deserve. They have also noted that the right to a speedy trial protects a defendant from unnecessary personal damages before a case is tried.
Although the alleged crime occurred on the night of March 13, the case will likely not go to trial until Spring 2007-nearly a year after the investigation and accompanying media coverage began.
"The discovery phase is taking an inordinate amount of time," Ekstrand said.
He added that the state's investigative file, which must be provided to the defendants in a speedy manner, has been a long time coming.
"There have been sizeable installments of documents month after month," he said of the thousands of pages of statements, audio transcripts and other components of the file.
Neil Vidmar, professor of law, said, however, that the timeline for the trial so far is typical of cases like this.
"The wheels of justice grind slowly for a reason," Vidmar said.
The complicated preliminary components of the case are only intensified by disputes between prosecution and the defense that must be settled before the case can continue.
"You really need to be inside it to see how complex it is," Vidmar said.
He added that it is difficult for people to understand that for the lawyers to do their job properly, they have to spend a lot of time on the investigation.
As long as the lawyers on both sides are active in moving the case forward, it is as speedy as it can get, Vidmar said.
And even though the case is one of the most high-profile in the state right now, it does not get special permission to move ahead of other cases.
"It has to take its place in line," said James Coleman, professor of law.
Additional circumstances have also delayed the pace of the trial.
One reason is that the original judges appointed to the case were only temporary.
"They did not want to set rules for the case that would bind the final judge," Ekstrand said.
He added that the appointment of Judge W. Osmond Smith as the single and final judge of the case is a sign that things will begin to move much more smoothly from now on.
Even so, some lawyers said it is hard to predict exactly how this case will turn out in the upcoming months.
"We don't know how long this case is going to take," Ekstrand said. "We just know how long discovery is taking."
And time is not the only factor affecting the case and the community.
"There are so many dimensions to it," he said. "We do not yet know the full reach of the case. But it will be significant."
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