A man sentenced to more than 300 years for violent sex offenses against children was freed from prison this week after a court determined his right to a speedy trial had been violated, reports the Grand Junction, Co., Daily Sentinel. The appellate court ruling, which the Colorado Supreme Court allowed to stand, found that the trial was delayed beyond Colorado’s speedy-trial requirements. There is no requirement that Michael McFadden, 46, register as a sex offender. “The appellate court found that there was “no question that (McFadden) did not expressly waive” his right to a speedy trial.
The trial was delayed after McFadden’s defense sought to include provisions into the juror questionnaire to aid his attorneys in selecting jurors. “We recognize that ‘but for’ defense counsel’s addition of the language into the jury questionnaire, the trial would have gone forward as originally scheduled. However, under the unique circumstances of this case, we cannot attribute the delay to (McFadden),” said the ruling. Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said that McFadden’s defense had approved delays. He said was “appalled” at the case’s outcome. The 2015 trial was traumatic for McFadden’s victims, prosecutor David Waite said. It revealed that McFadden selected families with young children, most frequently boys. “He befriends people who have young kids and then he gets into a situation where he has access to those kids, and he grooms them pretty heavily,” Waite said.