At a Dec. 3 court status conference, Stony Brook Associate Professor Geoffrey Girnun was granted a speedy trial waiver due to “ongoing plea negotiations.”
Judges have 70 days to bring a case to trial after an indictment. A speedy trial waiver extends that period. Girnun’s indictment was filed 84 days ago, on Sept. 10. The waiver filed today is the third one in this case.
“It would be a miscarriage of justice not to grant the waiver,” U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley said when he announced his decision to the court.
The U.S. district attorney for the case was Erin Argo. Girnun was present with his attorney, Michael Lloyd Yaeger.
Girnun was arrested on Sept. 12 after being charged with stealing over $200,000 from cancer-related research grants. He is an associate professor in the department of pathology and director of cancer metabolomics at the Renaissance School of Medicine.
The next status conference in this case will be on Jan. 8, 2020 at U.S. District Court in Central Islip at 1:30 p.m.
