Georgia's cash-strapped public defender system is at the heart of a case before the state's top court.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Supreme Court heard the appeal of a death row inmate charged with killing an elderly neighbor. He's arguing that his right to a speedy trial was violated by a lack of funding for Georgia's ailing public defender system.

Jamie Weis had been without an attorney for more than eight months after the two private attorneys assigned to represent him were removed because the state-funded system couldn't pay them. Stephen Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights told the court on Tuesday that the the three and a half year delay since he was charged with the killing of 73-year-old Catherine King is unconstitutional.