United States v. Pete

525 F.3d 844, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 9829, 2008 WL 1970344
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided May 8, 2008·No. 06-10390·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

BERZON, Circuit Judge:

Branden Pete was convicted, after a jury trial, of second degree murder on an Indian reservation, two counts of felony murder, and conspiracy to commit murder. Pete was sentenced to four concurrent terms of life imprisonment. He contends that the Speedy Trial Act (“the STA” or “the Act”), 18 U.S.C. § 3161 et seq., was violated and the indictment against him should therefore have been dismissed. We do not agree, and so affirm. 1

I.

Pete was arrested on tribal charges on August 23, 2002. 2 On March 7, 2003, the federal government filed a juvenile information against Pete; he was transferred from tribal to federal custody on March 10, 2003.

On March 21, 2003, the government filed a motion to proceed against Pete as an adult. Before the government’s motion was heard, Pete sought, on April 24, 2003, to dismiss the juvenile information for violation of the speedy trial provision of the Juvenile Delinquency Act (“JDA”), 18 U.S.C. § 5036, arguing that he was not brought to trial within thirty days after he was detained. On October 29, 2003, the government’s motion to proceed against Pete as an adult was granted and Pete’s motion to dismiss under the JDA denied.

Pete thereupon filed a notice of interlocutory appeal on November 3, 2003. This court affirmed the district court’s decision to treat Pete as an adult on October 13, 2004. We also determined that we did not have jurisdiction in the interlocutory appeal to hear Pete’s speedy trial challenge under the JDA. See United States v. Brandon P., 387 F.3d 969, 972-74 (9th Cir.2004). On November 17, 2004, Pete filed a petition for panel rehearing and a petition for rehearing en banc, which we denied on December 13, 2004. The mandate issued in Brandon P. on December 21, 2004.

Pete’s Motion to Recall the Mandate pending the filing of a petition for a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court, filed on December 23, 2004, was denied on January 27, 2005. Pete next filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court on March 10, 2005; it was denied on June 20, 2005.

Meanwhile, on March 30, 2005, the government returned an indictment charging Pete as an adult. Pete filed a motion to dismiss the indictment on April 20, 2005, arguing that the government violated the STA because the mandate for Pete’s interlocutory appeal issued on Dec 21, 2004, but the indictment was not filed until March 30, 2005, violating the STA’s requirement that an indictment be filed within thirty days from the date of Pete’s arrest (absent excludable time, discussed infra). See 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b).

On June 28, 2005, soon after the Supreme Court denied certiorari with respect to Pete’s interlocutory appeal, the district court denied Pete’s motion, holding that “[t]he entire delay caused by the interlocu-. tory appeal was excludable [from the STA’s thirty day filing requirement], including up until the Supreme Court denied *848 the cert petition on June 20, 2005.” After trial, the jury found Pete guilty of the lesser included offense of second degree murder on count 1 and guilty of the remaining counts in the indictment. The district court sentenced Pete to four concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. This timely appeal followed.

II.

Pete contends that the district court erred by denying his motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the government violated the STA, 18 U.S.C. § 3161 et seq. 3 Under 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b), “[a]ny information or indictment charging an individual with the commission of an offense shall be filed within thirty days from the date on which such individual was arrested or served with a summons in connection with such charges.” Section 3161(h) excludes certain periods of time from the time calculation under § 3161(b), stating:

The following periods of delay shall be excluded in computing the time within which an information or an indictment must be filed, or in computing the time within which the trial of any such offense must commence: (1) Any period of delay resulting from other proceedings concerning the defendant, including but not limited to — ... (E) delay resulting from any interlocutory appeal; (F) delay resulting from any pretrial motion, from the filing of the motion through the conclusion of the hearing on, or other prompt disposition of, such motion....

18 U.S.C. § 3161(h). Failure to comply with 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b) results in the dismissal of the complaint against the defendant. See 18 U.S.C. § 3162(a)(1).

Pete’s STA clock did not begin running when the federal juvenile information was filed against him or when he was taken into federal custody. At those times, Pete was detained as an alleged juvenile delinquent and was subject to the speedy trial provision of the JDA. See 18 U.S.C. § 5036. Pete was not held in federal custody as an adult until October 29, 2003, when the district court granted the government’s motion to proceed against Pete as an adult. 4 Although Pete’s STA clock began running on October 29, 2003 5 , *849 it stopped on November 3, 2003, when Pete filed notice of his interlocutory appeal. See 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(E). Pete’s STA clock remained stopped until at least December 21, 2004, when this court’s mandate issued, affirming the district court’s decision to transfer Pete from juvenile to adult status. 6

The dispositive questions raised here are whether the preindictment time during which Pete’s certiorari petition to the Supreme Court was pending is excludable (March 10, 2005 through March 30, 2005 7 ), and if so, whether the time after the mandate issued but before the certiorari petition was filed is also excludable (December 21, 2004 through March 10, 2005).

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United States v. Pete, 525 F.3d 844, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 9829, 2008 WL 1970344 (9th Cir. 2008).

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