Man arrested as teen has waited 7 years in Rikers for trial

If he had rich parents, it is inconceivable that this could have happened.

http://nypost.com/2015/06/15/kid-arrested-at-17-has-been-at-rikers-awaiting-trial-for-7-years/

By Dana Sauchelli and Rebecca Rosenberg
June 15, 2015 | 5:02am

A Manhattan man has spent nearly all of the past seven years locked up on Rikers Island awaiting trial — a dubious record for pretrial incarceration that is not likely to end anytime soon, experts told The Post.

Carlos Montero, now 24, was with two pals when one fatally stabbed a man and the other slashed another during a robbery in Washington Heights on Oct. 23, 2008, authorities have charged.

Montero, who has spent six years and eight months in Rikers, attempted to get his case tried separately — while one of his alleged cohorts fights the DNA evidence — but the judge balked, and his lawyer won’t even seek bail for him now because he says it’s a lost cause.

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“This case is gold medal-winning when it comes to delay,” Kuby said. “The longest period of time I’ve heard of is about five years in New York state.”

“It seems a very clear constitutional violation to hold somebody for nearly seven years in pretrial detention without trial,” he said.

The delay also has been a costly hit to taxpayers.

According to the city’s Independent Budget Office, the cost of housing one inmate in the city in 2012 was $167,731.

That means Montero’s seven-year jail stint has already cost the city more than $1 million.

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Montero said prosecutors offered him a plea deal of 15 years behind bars, but he refused, maintaining his innocence.

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