United States v. Timothy Alphonso Jones

23 F.3d 1307
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedJune 9, 1994
Docket93-3155
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 23 F.3d 1307 (United States v. Timothy Alphonso Jones) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Timothy Alphonso Jones, 23 F.3d 1307 (8th Cir. 1994).

Opinions

MORRIS SHEPPARD ARNOLD, Circuit Judge.

In January, 1992, Timothy Jones was indicted in federal court on one count of bank robbery. Mr. Jones finally went to trial in May, 1993. He was convicted and sentenced to 220 months in prison.

On appeal, Mr. Jones contends that he was deprived of his right to a speedy trial under federal statutes and under the Constitution. He also contends that the trial court should have granted his motion to suppress certain statements made to law enforcement officers and should have denied the admission of certain photographs introduced during the trial. We affirm the trial court1 in all respects.

I.

In a case where the defendant pleads “not guilty,” trial must begin within 70 days of the indictment or the defendant’s first appearance before a judicial officer in the court where the charge is pending, whichever is later. See 18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(1). Certain periods are excluded from the calculation. See 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h).

Mr. Jones’s trial was set for June 2, 1992. By that time, because of various excludable periods authorized under the statute, only 13 days had elapsed on the speedy trial clock. On June 2, a jury was chosen. Before the jury was sworn, however, the trial court held a hearing on two motions to suppress that were still pending. During that hearing, which took place outside the presence of the jury, Mr. Jones apparently created some type of disturbance (we have no transcript of the proceedings). The trial court took the motions to suppress under advisement and adjourned the trial until the next day. On June 3, without ruling on the motions to suppress, the trial court declared a mistrial sua sponte because of Mr. Jones’s behavior during the hearing on the previous day. A week later, the trial court ordered a psychiatric examination of Mr. Jones. See 18 U.S.C. § 4241(a), § 4241(b), § 4247(b).

“Trial” for purposes of speedy trial calculations begins at voir dire. See, e.g., Government of the Virgin Islands v. Duberry, 923 F.2d 317, 320-21 (3d Cir.1991); Unit[1309]*1309ed States v. Fox, 788 F.2d 905, 908 (2d Cir.1986); United States v. A-A-A Electrical Co., 788 F.2d 242, 246 (4th Cir.1986); United States v. Crane, 776 F.2d 600, 603 (6th Cir.1985); United States v. Martinez, 749 F.2d 601, 604 (10th Cir.1984); United States v. Manfredi 722 F.2d 519, 524 (9th Cir.1983); United States v. Howell, 719 F.2d 1258, 1262 (5th Cir.1983) (per curiam), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1228, 104 S.Ct. 2683, 81 L.Ed.2d 878 (1984); and United States v. Gonzalez, 671 F.2d 441, 443, 443 n. 3 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 994, 102 S.Ct. 2279, 73 L.Ed.2d 1291 (1982). See also Gomez v. United States, 490 U.S. 858, 873, 873 n. 26, 109 S.Ct. 2237, 2246, 2246 n. 26, 104 L.Ed.2d 923 (1989), and United States v. Johnson, 962 F.2d 1308, 1312 n. 8 (8th Cir.1992), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 358, 121 L.Ed.2d 271 (1992), — U.S.-, 113 S.Ct. 1418, 122 L.Ed.2d 788 (1993). For speedy trial purposes, then, Mr. Jones’s first “trial” was timely.

Mr. Jones’s retrial did not take place until May 26, 1993. In this appeal, he contends that his retrial was untimely under both the speedy trial statute and the sixth amendment. The speedy retrial clock in this case is governed by 18 U.S.C. § 3161(e), which states that where a defendant “is to be tried again following a declaration ... of a mistrial,” retrial must begin within 70 days of “the date the action occasioning the retrial becomes final,” not counting the periods of delay authorized by other parts of the statute. The parties seem to agree that Mr. Jones’s conduct in the June 2, 1992, hearing, and the consequent psychiatric examination, was “the action occasioning the retrial,” see id. The court need not decide, then, if that conclusion is correct. Mr. Jones argues that since the psychiatric report was completed on July 8, 1992, retrial should have taken place within 70 days of that time (before September 16, 1992). Since it did not, Mr. Jones asserts, he was deprived of the statutory right to a speedy retrial guaranteed by 18 U.S.C. § 3161(e).

The government responds that the psychiatric report consequent to the declaration of a mistrial was not the “final” event, see id., that would begin the speedy retrial clock. The government contends that a hearing on the question of competency is required under 18 U.S.C. § 4241(a), see also 18 U.S.C. § 4241(e), and therefore that the speedy retrial clock did not begin to run until April 2, 1993, when a hearing on Mr. Jones’s competency was finally held. See, e.g., Henderson v. United States, 476 U.S. 321, 329-30, 106 S.Ct. 1871, 1876-77, 90 L.Ed.2d 299 (1986). The government also argues that the motions to suppress could not be decided until the question of competency was resolved. The government thus argues that the time between April 2, when the competency hearing resolved the question of Mr. Jones’s fitness to stand trial, and the actual retrial date of May 26 was well within the 70 days allowed.

The cover letter accompanying the psychiatric report is dated July 23, 1992, but neither the docket sheets nor the trial court files reflect when the trial court received the report. Nor do the parties offer any illumination on that score. We therefore consider the report to have been received'by the trial court on July 23 and calculate the speedy retrial deadline from that day.

The psychiatric report submitted to the court indicated that Mr. Jones was competent to stand trial. Under those circumstances, the trial court had the discretion to hold or to forgo an additional hearing on Mr. Jones’s competency. See, e.g., United States v. Goodman, 590 F.2d 705, 708 n. 5, 709 (8th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 440 U.S. 985, 99 S.Ct. 1801, 60 L.Ed.2d 248 (1979); Durham v. Wyrick, 545 F.2d 41, 44 (8th Cir.1976) (per curiam); Belvin v. United States, 538 F.2d 1335, 1336 (8th Cir.1976) (per curiam), cert.

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Bluebook (online)
23 F.3d 1307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-timothy-alphonso-jones-ca8-1994.