The Speedy Trial Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy . . . trial . . . ." The Clause protects the defendant from delay between the presentation of the indictment or similar charging instrument and the beginning of trial.

In Barker v. Wingo (1972), the Supreme Court developed a four-part test that considers the length of the delay, the reasons for the delay, the defendant's assertion of his right to a speedy trial, and the prejudice to the defendant. A violation of the Speedy Trial Clause is cause for dismissal with prejudice of a criminal case.

In addition to the constitutional guarantee, various state and federal statutes confer a more specific right to a speedy trial. For example, in New York, the prosecution must be "ready for trial" within six months on all felonies except murder, or the charges are dismissed by action of law without regard to the merits of the case.

Ian William Freeman, a.k.a. "The Machine," (born November 10, 1966) is a retired English mixed martial artist. He used to fight as a light heavyweight for Cage Rage. He was their final British Light Heavyweight champion. He was the first English person to fight in the UFC and holds a UFC record of 3-2-1.^{[citation needed]} He was also the first person to beat former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Freeman also holds a notable victory over veteran Travis Fulton.

Ian Freeman came into martial arts from boxing, in which he'd trained for around 10 years. While working as a doorman, he ended up fighting with a man who was intoxicated and a friend mentioned that rather than punch him, he should have choked the man unconscious. Curious as to what he could learn, he started training in Goshin Jujitsu for around six to eight months before competing in an amateur Vale tudo competition. In his early days, he trained periodically with various instructors, including Marco Ruas and Renzo Gracie.

Freeman entered the professional circuit in 1999, considered an early ambassador for mixed martial arts and given the nickname, "the Iron Ambassador." In early 2000, UFC approached Ian to fight at UFC 24, where he lost to Scott Adams. He fought two more times in the UFC, winning both times. Later, Freeman's career hit a low point with four losses in a row, but he returned with a submission win in a rematch with Stanislav Nuschik.

Bradley Edward Manning (born December 17, 1987) is a United States Army soldier who was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of having passed classified material to the whistleblower website, WikiLeaks. He was charged over the following months with a number of offenses, including communicating national defense information to an unauthorized source, and aiding the enemy, a capital offense, though prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty.

Assigned as an intelligence analyst in October 2009 to an army unit based near Baghdad, Manning was given access to several databases used by the United States government to transmit classified information. He was arrested after Adrian Lamo, a computer hacker, told the FBI that Manning had confided during online chats that he had downloaded material from these databases and passed it to WikiLeaks. The material, much of it published between April and November 2010, included videos of a 2007 helicopter gun attack in Baghdad and the 2009 Granai airstrike in Afghanistan, 250,000 United States diplomatic cables, and 500,000 army reports that came to be known as the Iraq and Afghan War logs. It was the largest set of restricted documents ever leaked to the public.

Drew Walter Peterson (born January 5, 1954) is a former Bolingbrook, Illinois, police sergeant who is suspected of killing his third and fourth wives. The story has received national media attention in the United States. Peterson has repeatedly denied involvement in both cases. On May 7, 2009, Peterson was indicted by a Will County, Illinois, grand jury and charged with the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. Peterson currently resides in the Will County Adult Detention Center in Joliet, Illinois awaiting trial.

In 1972, Drew Peterson graduated from Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, where he ran cross country. After high school graduation, Peterson joined the US Army. In 1974, he briefly attended the College of DuPage. Peterson later moved to Falls Church, Virginia, where he trained as a military police officer.

Drew Peterson had a 30-year career as a police officer. He began working with the Bolingbrook Police Department in Illinois in 1977. In 1978, he was assigned to Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad, and in 1979, he received a "Police Officer of the Year" award from the department.