United States v. Daniels

631 F. Supp. 602, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27023
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedApril 8, 1986
Docket85 CR 232
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 631 F. Supp. 602 (United States v. Daniels) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Daniels, 631 F. Supp. 602, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27023 (N.D. Ill. 1986).

Opinion

ORDER

BUA, District Judge.

Before the Court is defendant Roosevelt Daniels’ motion to dismiss the indictment, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3162(a)(1) and (2), for violations of the Speedy Trial Act. 18 U.S.C. § 3161(a) and (b). For the reasons stated herein, defendant’s motion is denied.

I. FACTS

Defendant Roosevelt Daniels was arrested on April 15, 1985. On April 16, 1985, Daniels made his first appearance before Magistrate James T. Balog. Daniels’ pretrial detention hearing was held on April 18, 1985, and Daniels was denied bail. The Magistrate held a preliminary hearing on the complaint on April 26, 1985.

On May 15, 1985, the government moved for sixty (60) days of excludable time on the ground that it had to call between 100 to 150 witnesses before the grand jury. On that day, Magistrate Balog and Chief Judge Frank J. McGarr granted the government’s request for excludable time pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(8)(B)(iii). The first indictment against Daniels was returned on July 9, 1985, a period of 85 days following his arrest. Daniels was arraigned on July 17, 1985.

Daniels was subsequently arraigned on November 1, 1985, pursuant to a superceding indictment. On November 15, 1985, Daniels again demanded a speedy trial. In response, the Court ordered Daniels to be severed from his codefendants. The Court set Daniels’ trial date in late December of 1985. On November 20, 1985, the government moved to consolidate all defendants for trial. The Court vacated its prior severance order and consolidated the defendants for trial.

On four occasions, the Court entered orders granting periods of excludable time, all of which were done pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(8)(B)(ii) and (iii): on August 1, 1985, excluding time from August 1 through January 6, 1986; on November 20, 1985, excluding time from November 20 through March 10, 1986; on February 13, 1986, excluding time from February 13 through May 5, 1986; and on March 21, 1986, excluding time from March 21 through July 1, 1986. The latter two continuances and periods of excludable time are not challenged by the defendant Daniels. The Court notes that Daniels’ counsel joined in or initiated those motions for ex-cludable time. The first two orders granting excludable time will be discussed below.

II. DISCUSSION

Defendant makes four arguments in support of his motion. First, he argues *604 that the Magistrate failed to hold a timely pretrial detention hearing. However, defendant’s pretrial detention was affirmed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. United States v. Daniels, 112 F.2d 382 (7th Cir.1985). Since the defendant did not argue that the pretrial detention hearing was untimely before the Seventh Circuit, he waived that argument and the Court will not consider it, especially in light of its doubtful relevance to this motion.

Second, defendant argues that the preindictment period of 85 days exceeded the required 30-day period and therefore constitutes a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 3161(a). In support of this argument, defendant contends that the Magistrate and Chief Judge committed error in granting the government’s motion for sixty (60) days of excludable time on May 15, 1985. As of that date, 30 days had passed since the defendant’s arrest and detention. In support of its motion for excludable time, the government stated that it would call between 100 to 150 witnesses before the grand jury, and that the safety of government agents had been threatened. Both the Magistrate and the Chief Judge found that the excludable time was warranted under 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(8)(B)(iii). § 3161(h)(8)(B)(iii) states that, where an arrest precedes indictment, delay in the filing of the indictment is caused because the arrest occurs at a time such that it is unreasonable to expect return and filing of the indictment within the period specified in § 3161(b), or because the facts upon which the grand jury must base its determination are unusual or complex.

While this case appears to fall squarely within § 3161(h)(8)(B)(iii), defendant argues that the Magistrate and Chief Judge erred in not conducting an independent investigation of the government’s representations supporting the excludable time. However, Magistrate Balog did conduct preliminary hearings with respect to six defendants in this case. In addition, Chief Judge McGarr allowed oral argument on the issue of preindictment excludable time. He also recognized and accepted the need for the excludable time in light of the complex factual presentation to the grand jury.

Finally, both the Magistrate and the Chief Judge had two opportunities to explore the problem of preindictment delay in light of defendant’s pretrial detention. Both found that the complexity of the case and the timing of the arrest warranted 60 days of preindictment excludable time. The Court rejects defendant’s contention that a court must take new evidence or conduct hearings before making its findings regarding excludable time.

18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(8)(A) states in pertinent part:

No such period of delay resulting from a continuance granted by the court in accordance with this paragraph shall be excludable under this subsection unless the court sets forth, in the record of the case, either orally or in writing, its reasons for the finding that the ends of justice served by the granting of such continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial.

In United States v. Thomas, 774 F.2d 807 (7th Cir.1985), the district court stated in a written order that the case was complex because it contained numerous defendants and thousands of financial documents. The court also explicitly mentioned it was granting an “ends of justice” continuance. The Seventh Circuit held that “the written order of the district court sufficiently articulated legitimate reasons for granting the continuance and was well within the necessary guidelines found at 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(8)(A) and (B).” Id. at 810.

In another case, the Seventh Circuit held that the Speedy Trial Act did not require a district court to cite § 3161(h)(8)(A) and (B) or to track the statutory language in a lengthy opinion. United States v. Wiehoff, 748 F.2d 1158, 1160 (7th Cir.1984). In that case, the district court made detailed oral findings which would justify a continuance.

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Bluebook (online)
631 F. Supp. 602, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27023, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-daniels-ilnd-1986.