Why would a lawyer delay even seven years? Several reasons. Witness die or move and can't be located to testify, evidence gets missing, public looses interest and most don't recall the crime, etc. Ineffective Counsel is the new Get Out Of Jail Free Card. The man should have been tried more than six years ago. He'll be a free man likely in less than a year and no conviction.
Why would an attorney want to do that? They are besmirching their own name in a major way.
It takes two to tango and the prosecutor apparently hasn’t bothered to press the issue either, thus building a case for habeas corpus or other appeal.
So give the guy a trial. If he’s convicted, away he goes. At this rate he’ll have served about a third of the average time served by a convicted murderer in NY anyway.
http://www.doccs.ny.gov/Research/Reports/2013/Statistical_Overview_2011_Discharges.pdf