Under federal law, the trial must begin within 70 days after indictment or the defendant’s first court appearance, whichever comes later. That is the number on paper. How long after an indictment the trial actually happens is usually much longer, because the Speedy Trial Act pauses the clock for a long list of routine pretrial events. A straightforward single-defendant federal case often reaches trial in four to six months; complex cases regularly take a year or more.
Where the 70 Days Comes From
The Speedy Trial Act of 1974 sets the baseline. Once an indictment is filed and made public, or once the defendant first appears before a judge (whichever happens later), the government has 70 days to bring the case to trial.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3161 – Time Limits and Exclusions Congress merged what were originally two separate windows (10 days from indictment to arraignment, then 60 days to trial) into the single 70-day period in 1979.
State cases follow different rules. Each state sets its own deadline, and the range is wide: some require trial within 90 days of arraignment for defendants in custody, others allow 180 days or more, and custody status often shortens the timeline. If the case is in state court, the specific state’s rule controls.
Why the 70-Day Number Is Misleading
The Speedy Trial Act lists extensive categories of “excludable” time that do not count against the 70 days.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3161 – Time Limits and Exclusions These are not loopholes. They reflect the fact that criminal cases involve preparation that cannot always be rushed without compromising fairness.
The exclusions cover:
- Pretrial motions, from the moment one is filed until the court resolves it.
- Mental competency evaluations.
- Interlocutory appeals by either side.
- Time the court spends considering a proposed plea agreement.
- Delays attributable to a codefendant whose own clock has not expired, when severance has not been granted.
- Absent or unavailable witnesses, where reasonable efforts to produce them have failed.
- Transportation of a defendant from another district, though transit beyond 10 days is presumed unreasonable.
- Up to 30 days while a judge has a matter under active advisement.
Each of these can shift the trial date by weeks. A single suppression motion with an evidentiary hearing can add a month or more, and pretrial motions are the norm rather than the exception in federal court.
The Ends-of-Justice Continuance
The broadest exclusion is the “ends of justice” continuance. A judge can pause the clock for as long as needed if the judge finds, on the record, that the interests of justice outweigh the defendant’s and the public’s interest in a speedy trial.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3161 – Time Limits and Exclusions This is where most real delay lives. Judges grant these continuances in cases with multiple defendants, novel legal questions, large volumes of electronic evidence, or when the defense simply needs more time to prepare.
The statute imposes two limits. The judge must state specific reasons on the record, and a continuance cannot be granted merely because the court’s calendar is crowded or because the prosecution failed to prepare with diligence.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC Ch. 208 – Speedy Trial Even so, these continuances are routinely granted, which is why elapsed time from indictment to trial in federal court regularly stretches to many months.
Superseding Indictments
When prosecutors file a superseding indictment (a new charging document that adds charges, drops charges, or adds defendants), the 70-day clock generally restarts from the filing date of the new indictment. Superseding indictments are common as investigations develop and cooperating witnesses come forward. Each one can substantially extend the period before trial.
Realistic Timelines
Add up the effect of excludable time, and the practical answer diverges sharply from 70 days:
- A straightforward single-defendant case often reaches trial in four to six months.
- Complex financial fraud cases, multi-defendant conspiracies, and cases with voluminous electronic evidence commonly take a year or longer.
- Cases involving cooperating witnesses tend to move slowly, because the government typically wants cooperation agreements resolved before trial, and each agreement generates additional excludable time.
Two features of the pretrial period drive most of the calendar. Discovery is one. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 requires the government to turn over the defendant’s own statements, documents, and physical evidence it plans to use, along with anything material to the defense.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 16 – Discovery and Inspection The prosecution also has a constitutional duty under Brady v. Maryland to disclose favorable, material evidence.4Justia. Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963) In cases involving millions of financial records or thousands of hours of wiretap recordings, review alone can take months, and defense counsel cannot meaningfully prepare until it is done.
Pretrial motions are the other. Judges typically set a motion deadline at or shortly after arraignment; if none is set, the default cutoff is the start of trial.5Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 12 – Pleadings and Pretrial Motions The full stretch from filing to resolution is excluded.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 3161 – Time Limits and Exclusions
The Constitutional Outer Limit
Even when every delay fits inside a statutory exclusion, the Sixth Amendment provides a separate protection. The Constitution guarantees every criminal defendant a “speedy and public trial” in federal and state court alike.6Legal Information Institute. U.S. Constitution – Sixth Amendment A defendant can comply with the Speedy Trial Act and still raise a constitutional claim if the overall delay becomes unreasonable.
The Supreme Court set out how courts evaluate these claims in Barker v. Wingo, adopting a four-factor balancing test: the length of the delay, the government’s reason for it, whether the defendant asserted the right, and whether the delay prejudiced the defense.7Justia. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514 (1972) No single factor controls. A two-year delay might survive review if the defendant caused most of it and suffered no real harm; a shorter delay could violate the Constitution if the government stalled deliberately and the defendant sat in jail throughout.
If the Deadline Is Missed
Consequences differ depending on which right was violated.
Under the Speedy Trial Act, a defendant whose 70-day clock has run (after accounting for all excludable time) can move to dismiss the indictment. The defendant must show the deadline has passed, and the government then justifies any excluded time. The motion must come before trial or before a guilty plea; waiting too long waives the right. Dismissal can be with prejudice (case over, no refiling) or without prejudice (government can bring new charges). Courts weigh the seriousness of the offense, the facts behind the delay, and whether reprosecution would undermine the Act’s purpose.8GovInfo. 18 USC 3162 – Sanctions Dismissals without prejudice are more common, particularly in serious cases.
A Sixth Amendment violation is different. In Strunk v. United States, the Supreme Court held that dismissal with prejudice is “the only possible remedy” for a constitutional speedy trial violation.9Justia. Strunk v. United States, 412 U.S. 434 (1973) That severity is one reason courts apply the Barker factors carefully and rarely find a violation absent extreme, government-caused delay.
How the Defendant’s Situation Shapes the Pace
Defendants have more influence over the calendar than many realize. Defense attorneys often request continuances to locate witnesses, hire experts, and work through discovery. Each continuance granted under the ends-of-justice provision pauses the clock. For a defendant released on bail, there is frequently little incentive to rush, and counsel may prefer a slower pace that allows for the strongest preparation. For a defendant held in pretrial detention, the pressure runs the other way, and every excluded month is a month in jail.
What a defendant cannot do is waive the Speedy Trial Act wholesale. In Zedner v. United States, the Supreme Court held that a defendant’s attempt to waive the Act “for all time” was ineffective, reasoning that the Act protects the public interest in timely prosecution, not just the defendant’s own rights.10Justia. Zedner v. United States, 547 U.S. 489 (2006) Delays have to fit a specific statutory exclusion; a blanket waiver is not one of them.
Most Cases Never Reach Trial at All
For most federal defendants, the question of how long until trial is moot. About 98% of federal convictions come from plea agreements rather than trials.11American Bar Association. 2023 Plea Bargain Task Force Report Urges Fairer, More Transparent Justice System Plea negotiations run through the same pretrial window that shapes trial timing, and when a plea is accepted, no trial date is ever set. Someone tracking the calendar between indictment and a possible trial should expect the case to resolve short of trial in most scenarios, and to run well past 70 days on the road to any trial that does happen.