Law enforcement
Human trafficking case continuances
Courts must give substantial weight to a prosecutor’s scheduling conflict when considering a continuance in a human-trafficking case.
The law gives prosecutors added flexibility to avoid conflicts with another active trial, preliminary hearing, or suppression motion while retaining strict limits on delay.
What the law does
- Requires courts to give great weight to an assigned prosecutor’s conflicting proceeding when deciding whether good cause exists to continue a human-trafficking case.
- Allows the prosecution only one continuance for that reason in each human-trafficking case.
- Caps that continuance at 10 additional court days.
Who it affects
- Prosecutors handling human-trafficking cases.
- People charged in human-trafficking cases.
- Victims and witnesses in human-trafficking cases.