United States v. William Dejesus (88-3899) and Marvin Bishop (88-3900)

887 F.2d 114
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 21, 1989
Docket88-3899, 88-3900
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 887 F.2d 114 (United States v. William Dejesus (88-3899) and Marvin Bishop (88-3900)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. William Dejesus (88-3899) and Marvin Bishop (88-3900), 887 F.2d 114 (6th Cir. 1989).

Opinion

KEITH, Circuit Judge.

Defendants, William DeJesus and Marvin Bishop, appeal from judgments of conviction, after jury trial, for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 846, and conspiracy to possess, with the intent to distribute, cocaine, 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 841(b)(1)(B). For the reasons which follow, we AFFIRM.

I.

On January 20, 1988, DeJesus and Eugenio Bautista were arrested in the Southern District of New York by a task force composed of FBI agents and New York City police detectives as they were about to board a bus to Cleveland, Ohio. Two kilograms of cocaine were found in their possession. The authorities were led to DeJe-sus and Bautista through wiretaps authorized upon an application by the FBI for interception orders for numbers listed under Caonabo DeJesus and German Bautis-ta. These orders were originally in effect from December 4, 1987 through January 2, 1988; upon the FBI’s application for an extension on January 15, 1988, the orders were again in effect from January 15, through January 21, 1988. Agents monitoring the conversations intercepted the name “Marvin,” and heard that “Marvin” was engaged in drug-related conversations, but did not list his name in the January 15, 1988 application.

On January 21, 1988, the morning after Gary Bautista and William DeJesus were arrested, Cleveland FBI agents made three “pretext” calls to two numbers at which “Marvin” had been contacted or that “Marvin” had given. Marvin Bishop eventually came to the telephone and agreed to meet whom he thought were Eugenio Bautista and William DeJesus at a hotel near Cleveland. When he arrived, he was arrested by Cleveland FBI agents.

After his January 20, 1988 arrest, William DeJesus was indicted in the Southern District of New York on February 4, 1988. Although the New York indictment is not a carbon copy of the Ohio indictment, the conspiracy, as well as its members, are substantially the same. As the result of a detention order, DeJesus was continuously confined since January 20, 1988. On March 29, both DeJesus and Bishop, among others, were indicted in the Northern District of Ohio. Both were arraigned on April 15, 1988.

On May 5, 1988, Bishop moved for suppression of all wiretap interceptions involving him. In his motion, Bishop alleged that the FBI, despite having probable cause to suspect him of the activity under investigation, did not name him in the January 15, 1988 application, and that he was therefore excluded from the interception order in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2518(l)(b)(iv) and § 2518(4)(a). Moreover, Bishop argued that, due to his exclusion from the application and order, he did not receive the inventory notice required by 18 U.S.C. § 2518(8)(d). The district court denied this motion, ruling that the FBI did not have sufficient information to name Bishop in the January 15th application, and that he had received actual notice of the interceptions.

On May 24,1988, William DeJesus filed a motion to dismiss the Ohio indictment for violation of his right to a speedy trial. In that motion, DeJesus argued that, as of the date his speedy trial motion was filed, he had been incarcerated for nearly five months “on the same or similar charges in *116 the Southern District of New York,” in violation of the sixth amendment and 18 U.S.C. § 3161. In denying this motion, the district court concluded that only the time since the Ohio indictment should be considered in computing whether there had been a speedy trial violation. In the alternative, the district court found that, even if the New York time were counted pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7), the joining of Bishop as a co-defendant for whom the time for trial had not run made the period of delay reasonable.

Trial on the Ohio indictment commenced on June 15, 1988. The jury returned verdicts of guilty on June 21, 1988. This appeal followed.

II.

On appeal, DeJesus argues that the period running from his arrest and incarceration in the Southern District of New York, combined with the time elapsed in the Northern District of Ohio, exceeded the statutory seventy day period under 18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(1), and that he was therefore denied his right to a speedy trial under the Speedy Trial Act. 1 18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(1) provides that:

In any case in which a plea of not guilty is entered, the trial of a defendant charged in an information or indictment with the commission of an offense shall commence within seventy days from the filing date (and making public) of the information or indictment, or from the date the defendant has appeared before a judicial officer of the court in which such charge is pending, whichever date last occurs.

Thus, if the New York time is included, the speedy trial clock began to run on February 4, 1988, the date that DeJesus was indicted in the Southern District of New York, and stopped on June 15, 1988, the date on which trial commenced in the Northern District of Ohio.

The question of whether the time after indictment in one district ought to be included within the Speedy Trial Act computation if a subsequent indictment in another district involves the same conspiracy appears, somewhat surprisingly, to be an issue of first impression. Although this presents a rather interesting problem, we conclude that, even if we assume that the New York time is to be included, no Speedy Trial Act violation occurred.

18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7) provides that:

(h) 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:
(7) A reasonable period of delay when the defendant is joined for trial with a co-defendant as to whom the time for trial has not run and no motion for severance has been granted.

Co-defendant Bishop, as well as two other co-defendants were joined in the Ohio indictment. The time for Bishop’s trial had not run, and obviously no severance was granted. Although the district court was not specific in its reasons for concluding that the period of delay was reasonable, it did note the requirements of 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7), and further observed that the Ohio indictment involved thirteen defendants.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. $307,970.00, in U.S. Currency
156 F. Supp. 3d 708 (E.D. North Carolina, 2016)
United States v. Campbell
525 F. Supp. 2d 891 (E.D. Michigan, 2007)
Maples v. Stegall
Sixth Circuit, 2005
David A. Maples v. Jimmy Stegall, Warden
427 F.3d 1020 (Sixth Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Robinson
290 F. Supp. 2d 808 (E.D. Michigan, 2003)
United States v. Mares-Martinez
240 F. Supp. 2d 803 (N.D. Illinois, 2002)
United States v. Herman Matthews, Also Known as Yum
213 F.3d 966 (Seventh Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Bennett
825 F. Supp. 1512 (D. Colorado, 1993)
United States v. Emmett Lovell Nabors
901 F.2d 1351 (Sixth Circuit, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
887 F.2d 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-william-dejesus-88-3899-and-marvin-bishop-88-3900-ca6-1989.