The Legal Aid Society filed an amicus brief at the New York Court of Appeals to argue that, if a prosecution revokes its “ready for trial” status under CPL § 30.30, it should bear the burden of proving an exceptional fact or circumstance required it to do so. New York’s “speedy-trial” statute, CPL § 30.30, is supposed to facilitate the prompt adjudication of criminal cases. In our brief, we explained that the Appellate Division’s decision below, which placed the burden on the defense, allowed for the prosecution to make an “off-calendar” statement of readiness, followed by an in-court statement of non-readiness, without consequence. In its December 2016 decision, the Court of Appeals held that while the People must establish a valid reason for their change in readiness, the defense bears the ultimate burden of demonstrating, based on the People’s proffered reasons and other relevant circumstances, that the prior statement of readiness was illusory.