Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca9-06-10390/USCOURTS-ca9-06-10390-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Branden Pete
Appellant
United States of America
Appellee

Document Text:

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 06-10390

Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No.

v.  CR-03-00335-4-

RCB BRANDEN PETE,

Defendant-Appellant. OPINION 

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Arizona

Robert C. Broomfield, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted

September 24, 2007—San Francisco, California

Filed May 8, 2008

Before: John R. Gibson,* Marsha S. Berzon, and

Carlos T. Bea, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Berzon

*The Honorable John R. Gibson, Senior United States Circuit Judge for

the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation. 

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COUNSEL

Thomas M. Hoidal, The Law Office of Thomas M. Hoidal,

P.L.C., Phoenix, Arizona, for the defendant-appellant. 

Vincent Q. Kirby, Assistant United States Attorney, Phoenix,

Arizona; Daniel G. Knauss, United States Attorney, District

of Arizona; John Boyle, Deputy Appellate Chief, District of

Arizona; for the plaintiff-appellee. 

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

1Pete raised a number of other contentions on appeal, which are

addressed in a separate memorandum disposition filed contemporaneously

with this opinion. 

2We recount the dates in exacting detail, as they are critical to the STA

issue. 

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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

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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 interlocutory appeal was excludable

[from the STA’s thirty day filing requirement], including up

until the Supreme Court denied 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.

[1] 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

3The district court’s application of the STA is reviewed de novo, and its

factual findings are reviewed for clear error. United States v. Nelson, 137

F.3d 1094, 1108 (9th Cir. 1998). 

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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).

[2] 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 29,5 2003, it stopped on

4Even if Pete’s STA clock had begun running on March 10, 2003, when

Pete was taken into federal custody, the STA clock would have stopped

running on March 21, 2003, when the government filed its motion to proceed against Pete as an adult. See 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(F). Thus, regardless of whether Pete’s STA clock began running on March 10, 2003, when

he was taken into federal custody, or on October 29, 2003, when the district court granted the government’s motion to proceed against Pete as an

adult, the difference for STA purposes would be a total of eleven nonexcludable days, which, on its own, is legally insufficient to trigger a violation of the STA. 

5A pretrial motion creates excludable time under § 3161(h)(1)(F).

Absent an alternative basis for excluding time under the STA, a district

court’s order on such a pretrial motion ends the period of excludable time

and causes a defendant’s STA clock to resume running, or in this case,

begin running. Even though a party may file an interlocutory appeal challenging certain district court orders, the time between the district court’s

order and the filing of an interlocutory appeal is not excludable. Thus, the

ten day period within which a defendant may file a notice of appeal, see

F.R.A.P. 4(b)(1)(a), is not excludable from the STA clock calculation

unless there is an intervening excludable event, such as a separate pretrial

motion or an interlocutory appeal. See United States v. Long, 900 F.2d

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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, 20057), and if so, whether the time after

1270, 1276 (8th Cir. 1990) (stating that “[t]he excludable period under

[section 3161(h)(1)(E)] commences with the filing of the appeal,” and

including the period between the district court’s order and the filing of the

government’s interlocutory appeal in its STA calculation); United States

v. Pelfrey, 822 F.2d 628, 635 (6th Cir. 1987) (counting the time following

the district court’s order resolving pretrial motions, but prior to the filing

of an interlocutory appeal, as includable); United States v. Rush, 738 F.2d

497, 508-09 (1st Cir. 1984) (same). 

We note that this circuit has not had occasion directly to rule on this

issue before, although we have suggested the same answer reached by

other circuits. In United States v. Crooks, we stated that “the action occasioning the new trial” under § 3161(e), which begins the seventy day

period under the STA, was the district court’s order, not the expiration of

time in which a party may file a notice of appeal following the district

court’s order. 804 F.2d 1441, 1445 (9th Cir. 1986) (“Crooks I”) , modified

by United States v. Crooks, 826 F.2d 4, 5 (9th Cir. 1987) (“Crooks II”).

Crooks did not have to decide the issue, however, because the notice of

appeal was filed the same day as the district court’s order. Id. We decide

the question now because, as will appear, it is relevant to our later analysis

of the time excludable for petitions for writ of certiorari. 

6The government contends that the speedy trial clock did not begin running under § 3161(b) because Pete “was never arrested as an adult or

charged by complaint prior to his indictment.” We do not address this

argument, as we conclude that there was no STA violation even if we

assume the clock began to run on October 29, 2003. 

7The petition for certiorari was not denied until June 20, 2005. The

indictment, however, was filed on March 30, 2005, and we are concerned

with pre-indictment delay; that is why we consider the excluded period as

ending on March 30, 2005. No reason appears, however, why the entire

period the petition for certiorari was pending would not have been excludable had the indictment not been filed in the midst of that period. 

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the mandate issued but before the certiorari petition was filed

is also excludable (December 21, 2004 through March 10,

2005). 

1. Excludability of the certiorari petition period

A.

[3] This court has never decided whether the time during

which a certiorari petition from a court of appeals decision in

an interlocutory appeal is pending is excludable from the

STA’s timing requirements. We now hold that such time is

excludable under § 3161(h)(1)(E) of the STA. 

As an initial matter, a certiorari petition undoubtedly comes

within § 3161(h)(1)’s catchall language, which excludes time

for “other proceedings concerning the defendant.” Cf. United

States v. Davenport, 935 F.2d 1223, 1233 (11th Cir. 1991)

(“We hold that the petition for writ of habeas corpus in this

case seeking dismissal of the indictment for violation of the

Speedy Trial Act is an ‘other proceeding’ analogous to an

interlocutory appeal. We hold that the delay resulting therefrom is excluded from the petitioner’s speedy trial clock

under 18 U.S.C.A. § 3161(h)(1)(E).”); United States v. Tyler,

878 F.2d 753, 758-59 (3d Cir. 1989) (stating, with regard to

a petition for a writ of mandamus, that “we perceive no principled basis upon which to distinguish this kind of interlocutory review with ‘any interlocutory appeal’ expressly

excluded under section 3161(h)(1)(E). The petition for writ of

mandamus sought appellate review of a district court’s order

concerning a pretrial ruling rendered prior to final judgment.

Accordingly, it was the functional equivalent of an interlocutory appeal[,]” and holding that the time during which the

petition was pending was excludable as an analogous “other

proceeding” under (h)(1)) (emphasis in original). 

[4] More specifically, Pete’s certiorari petition is included

within subsection (h)(1)(E). Although a certiorari petition

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does not trigger an “appeal,”

8

 it is certainly part of the appellate process. Until a party files a certiorari petition or the time

to do so expires, a party is entitled to seek review by the

Supreme Court of an adverse appellate decision. Therefore,

even though certiorari petitions are not explicitly included in

§ 3161(h)(1)(E), a certiorari petition following an interlocutory appeal is encompassed in § 3161(h)(1)(E)’s broad language as a “ ‘delay resulting from an[ ] interlocutory

appeal.’ ” See United States v. Gambino, 784 F. Supp. 129,

138 (S.D.N.Y. 1992) (so holding) (quoting § 3161(h)(1)(E));

cf. United States v. Lyon, 588 F.2d 581, 582 (8th Cir. 1978)

(excluding the time during which a certiorari petition was

pending under what is now § 3161(h)(1)(D) of the STA, noting that “[i]t would have been impracticable to retry the

instant case while appellate review of these issues was pending.”). 

[5] Here, interlocutory review of the district court’s order

was not final after this court’s decision in Brandon P., as Pete

sought review of the appellate decision via his certiorari petition. Therefore, the time during which Pete’s certiorari petition following his interlocutory appeal was pending is

excludable under § 3161(h)(1)(E) from the calculation of the

STA period for filing an indictment.

B.

As previously noted, the STA excludes “[a]ny period of

delay resulting from other proceedings concerning the defendant,” including “delay resulting from any interlocutory

appeal.” 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(E). If, as is often the case, the

appellate mandate had been stayed while Pete sought certiorari from the Supreme Court,9

 applying the statute would be

8The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over certain cases on direct appeal.

See, e.g., 28 U.S.C. § 1253. In contrast, the Supreme Court has discretionary authority to review decisions by granting a petition for a writ of certiorari. See 28 U.S.C. § 1254(1). 

9

“A party may move to stay the mandate pending the filing of a petition

for a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court. The motion must be served

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fairly straightforward: The interlocutory appeal would still be

pending until the mandate issued. United States v. Crooks,

826 F.2d 4, 5 (9th Cir. 1987) (“Crooks II”) (citing United

States v. Ross, 654 F.3d 612, 616 (9th Cir. 1981)). The twist

in this case comes about because there was no timely motion

to stay the mandate; this court did issue its mandate and then

denied Pete’s motion to recall the mandate. With the mandate

in effect, the district court resumed jurisdiction over the case.

See United States v. Ruiz-Alvarez, 211 F.3d 1181, 1184 (9th

Cir. 2000) (“Once a mandate issues, . . . jurisdiction over a

criminal case automatically revests in the district court.”)

(emphasis in original). As a result, the government did not

have to, and did not, wait until the Supreme Court denied

Pete’s certiorari petition before filing the indictment in the

district court. Instead, the indictment was filed while Pete’s

certiorari petition was pending. We are left with a situation in

which the putatively excludable period quite obviously did

not preclude the government from proceeding to file the

indictment, raising the question whether the delay in doing so

“result[ed] from” the pendency of the certiorari petition. 

[6] Whether the time period used in pursuing an interlocutory appeal is automatically excludable under

§ 3161(h)(1)(E), even if the appeal did not actually cause any

delay, is an open issue in this court, but just barely so. Applying parallel “delay resulting from” language, we have held

that pretrial motions, excludable under § 3161(h)(1)(F) of the

STA, need not actually cause any delay for the time during

on all parties and must show that the certiorari petition would present a

substantial question and that there is good cause for a stay.” F.R.A.P.

41(d)(2)(A). See also 9th Cir. R. 41-1 (stating that a stay of the mandate

pending petition to the Supreme Court “will not be granted as a matter of

course, but will be denied if the Court determines that the petition for certiorari would be frivolous or filed merely for delay.”); Bryant v. Ford

Motor Co., 886 F.2d 1526, 1528-1529 (9th Cir. 1989) (“Ordinarily, [ ] a

party seeking a stay of the mandate following this court’s judgment need

not demonstrate that exceptional circumstances justify a stay.”). 

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which the motions are pending to be excludable. See United

States v. Vo, 413 F.3d 1010, 1015 (9th Cir. 2005) (holding

that “a pretrial motion triggers an automatic exclusion [under

§ 3161(h)(1)(F)], even though no actual delay results”) (quotation marks and internal citations omitted); Crooks II, 826

F.2d at 5 (holding that even though “the trial date had already

been set and the motion or proceeding actually caused no

delay” in the start of the trial, the period of pendency of the

“motion or proceeding” was nonetheless excludable); United

States v. Van Brandy, 726 F.2d 548, 551 (9th Cir. 1984)

(“ ‘We reject [an] . . . analysis which would require that to be

excludable under (F) a particular pretrial motion must have

caused an actual delay in the commencement of the trial. We

accept, instead, the government’s view that a pretrial motion

triggers an automatic exclusion[.]”) (alterations in original)

(quoting United States v. Cobb, 697 F.2d 38, 46 (2nd Cir.

1982)).10 We can perceive no basis for treating the exclusion

for interlocutory appeals under subsection (h)(1)(E) differently from the exclusion for pretrial motions contained in subsection (h)(1)(F), as both subsections contain identical “delay

resulting from” language. Cf. United States v. Gallardo, 773

F.2d 1496, 1502 (9th Cir. 1985) (stating that “the fact that

Congress chose to employ the same phrase in [§§ 3161(h)(1)-

(6) and (8)] suggests that it intended them to be interpreted

uniformly”).

United States v. Clymer, 25 F.3d 824 (9th Cir. 1994) is not

to the contrary. Clymer dealt with a motion to dismiss that the

district court continued, without deciding, until after trial. Id.

at 830. The district court then set the trial schedule without

any reference to the pending motion. Id. As Clymer itself

observed and as we observed in a later case largely limiting

Clymer to its facts, see Vo, 413 F.3d at 1014-15, the district

court in Clymer in effect dismissed the pretrial motion and put

10See also Vo, 413 F.3d at 1015 n.2 (discussing decisions from other circuits holding that exclusions under § 3161(h)(1) are automatic without

requiring a factual finding of causation). 

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off deciding the issue raised in that motion until after trial.

Clymer, 25 F.3d at 830. Under these circumstances, we held

the time during which the pretrial motion was pending was

not excludable under § 3161(h)(1)(F). Id. The precise holding

of Clymer does not apply here, either directly or by extension,

because the certiorari petition had not been put off by the

court in which it was pending, the Supreme Court, until after

the relevant STA trigger date, here the filing of the indictment. See Vo, 413 F.3d at 1015 (“‘[I]n the years since Clymer

was decided, its holding has been limited to situations in

which a motion is postponed until after trial.’ ”) (internal citations omitted) (quoting United States v. Lewis, 349 F.3d 1116,

1121 (9th Cir. 2003)).11

[7] We now hold that, like the exception under

§ 3161(h)(1)(F) for pretrial motions, the exclusion of time

under § 3161(h)(1)(E) for an “interlocutory appeal” need not

actually cause any delay to create excludable time; the exclusion is automatic.

We recognize that neither Vo, Crooks II, nor Van Brandy

dealt with the time limit for the filing of the indictment specified in § 3161(b), which is at issue in this case. Vo and Van

Brandy dealt with time limits under § 3161(c)(1), which provides that “the trial of a defendant charged in an information

11Clymer also observed, more broadly, that “[a]ccording to its plain

terms, § 3161(h)(1)(F) applies only when the delay in bringing the case to

trial is the result of the pendency of a pretrial motion. . . . In short, under

the plain language of the statute, delay is excludable only when it in some

way results from the pendency of the motion.” Id. (emphasis in original).

Judge Berzon agrees with this observation and, were the issue an open one

in this court, would hold that there is no excludable time here for the

period the petition for a writ of certiorari was pending. The indictment

both could be and was filed during that period, demonstrating that no

“delay result[ed] from” the pendency of the petition. Given the line of

cases ending with Vo, however, Judge Berzon believes the question before

us to be sufficiently controlled by precedent that a three-judge panel may

not follow the logic of Clymer absent a similar factual context. (Judges

Bea and Gibson do not join in this footnote.) 

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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.” Crooks dealt with

time limitations for a retrial after an interlocutory appeal,

applying § 3161(e) “by analogy.”

12 See United States v.

Crooks, 804 F.2d 1441, 1445 (9th Cir. 1986) (“Crooks I”),

modified by Crooks II, 826 F.2d at 5. 

Here, unlike in Vo, Crooks II, or Van Brandy, the relevant

time period is the one between Pete’s arrest and his indictment, which is governed by § 3161(b). But the STA makes no

distinction regarding the applicability of the exclusions under

§ 3161(h)(1) to the pre-indictment period (governed by

§ 3161(b)) and the pretrial period (governed by §§ 3161(c)

and (e)),13 and nothing in Vo, Crooks II, or Van Brandy suggests such a distinction. 

[8] We therefore hold that the automatic exclusion of time

for interlocutory appeals under § 3161(h)(1)(F) is applicable

pre-indictment under § 3161(b). Cf. United States v. Robinson, 887 F.2d 651, 656 (6th Cir. 1989) (holding that the

exclusion of time under § 3161(h)(1)(D)14 from the thirty-day

pre-indictment time limit under § 3161(b) of the STA is automatic and no causal connection is required); United States v.

Montoya, 827 F.2d 143, 151-52 (7th Cir. 1987) (stating that

“Congress did not intend to saddle the government with proving a causal relationship between another proceeding and its

delay in indicting or bringing a defendant to trial each time it

1218 U.S.C. § 3161(e) provides “[i]f the defendant is to be tried again

following an appeal or a collateral attack, the trial shall commence within

seventy days from the date the action occasioning the retrial becomes

final.” 

1318 U.S.C. § 3161(h) provides: “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 . . . .” (emphasis added). 

1418 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(d) excludes “delay resulting from trial with

respect to other charges against the defendant[.]” 

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seeks an exclusion under section 3161(h)(1),” and holding

that the time during which an “other proceeding” under

§ 3161(h)(1) is pending is automatically excludable from the

pre-indictment period under § 3161(b)). 

[9] The upshot is that even though the filing of Pete’s certiorari petition did not actually cause any delay — as evidenced by the fact that the indictment was returned while the

certiorari petition was pending — the time during which

Pete’s certiorari petition was pending is still excludable under

our precedents, as the period is one covered by § 3161(h)(1).

2. Excludability of the pre-filing period

Pete argues that even if the period during which his certiorari petition was pending is excludable, the charges against

him should be dismissed because more than thirty days of

includable time passed between the issuance of the mandate

in his interlocutory appeal and the filing of his certiorari petition. We conclude that in the unusual circumstances of this

case, Pete’s STA clock resumed running with the issuance of

the mandate, but stopped soon thereafter because the period

of time beginning with Pete’s motion to recall the mandate

and ending with the filing of the petition is excludable. 

[10] We have held that generally, after an appeal, the

period of excludable delay under the STA ends on the day this

court’s mandate issues, because that is the date the appellate

decision is final and jurisdiction returns to the district court.

See Crooks II, 836 F.2d at 5 (quoting Ross, 654 F.3d at 616);

see also United States v. Lloyd, 125 F.3d 1263, 1265 n.1 (9th

Cir. 1997) (holding that the STA clock under § 3161(e) began

running again with the issuance of the mandate) (citing

Crooks II, 826 F.2d at 5); United States v. Rush, 738 F.2d

497, 509 (1st Cir. 1984) (relying on cases applying § 3161(e)

to hold that excludable time for interlocutory appeals under

§ 3161(h)(1)(E) ends when the mandate issues, noting that

“the date on which the mandate is issued . . . determines when

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the district court reacquires jurisdiction for further proceedings.”) (citing Ross, 654 F.2d at 616). Crooks II did not specifically address the possibility that a certiorari petition would

be filed after the mandate issues for an interlocutory appeal,

presumably because no such circumstance was there presented, but it did hold that the exclusion for interlocutory

appeals ends with the issuance of the mandate, not with the

expiration of the time to file a petition for writ of certiorari.

Somewhat analogously, in the context of an appeal from the

district court, the ten days within which a party may file a

notice of appeal following a district court order are not

excludable under the STA unless there is an intervening

excludable event; the STA begins to run following the district

court’s order.

15 See n.5, supra. In the run of cases, Crooks II

dictates the parallel rule here — that is, that the period within

which to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from an interlocutory appeal is not usually excludable time. Applying this

rule, the STA clock in this case resumed running with the

issuance of this court’s mandate. 

This case, however, is an oddity. Ordinarily, in situations

in which a defendant intends to file a certiorari petition, the

defendant will typically seek a timely stay of the mandate

pending the filing of a certiorari petition, thereby indicating

an intention to file one. In those circumstances, assuming the

stay of the mandate is granted, the STA clock would resume

when the mandate issues (i.e., after the resolution of the certiorari petition). 

[11] Here, however, there was no timely motion to stay the

mandate. The mandate issued, and jurisdiction was thereby

15Although the pre-appeal period is useful as an analogy, the fact that

the time during which a party may file an appeal is not automatically

excludable is not dispositive with regard to the pre-certiorari petition

period. A notice of appeal following a pretrial motion begins an entirely

new proceeding, while the certiorari petition is, for the reasons stated

supra, encompassed within the broad language of the exclusion for interlocutory appeals contained in § 3161(h)(1)(E). 

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returned to the district court. See Ruiz-Alvarez, 211 F.3d at

1184 (“Once a mandate issues, . . . jurisdiction over a criminal

case automatically revests in the district court.”). Pete’s STA

clock resumed running at that time. But soon thereafter, when

filing a motion to recall the mandate, Pete did state an intention to file a petition for a writ of certiorari (and did in fact

do so). 

Pete could have filed the petition for a writ of certiorari

within the thirty day STA period after the issuance of the

mandate (or after the denial of the motion to recall the mandate). Had he done so, he would clearly have triggered the

exclusion for the period during which the certiorari petition

was pending. That he did not do so, but instead — after

announcing that he was going to file a petition — waited the

full ninety days after the denial of rehearing permitted by the

Supreme Court rules,16 see Sup. Ct. R. 13, should not change

the timing of the government’s obligation to file an indictment under the STA. The government has no control over the

defendant’s choice in this regard. Under these circumstances,

it would make little sense to require — as opposed to allow

— the government to proceed against a defendant within

thirty days after the mandate issues even though the defendant

has said he will file a petition for writ of certiorari (which he

has ninety days after judgment or the denial of rehearing to

file), only to pause the criminal proceedings once a timely

certiorari petition is actually filed to await the Supreme

Court’s decision. Cf. Tyler, 878 F.2d at 759 (recognizing in

the context of a petition for a writ of mandamus that although

the district court retained jurisdiction over the case following

16A timely certiorari petition must be filed “within 90 days after entry

of the judgment,” or “if a petition for rehearing is timely filed in the lower

court by any party, or if the lower court appropriately entertains an

untimely petition for rehearing or sua sponte considers rehearing, the time

to file the petition for a writ of certiorari for all parties . . . runs from the

date of the denial of rehearing or, if rehearing is granted, the subsequent

entry of judgment[,]” unless a Justice extends the time “for a period not

exceeding 60 days” for good cause. Sup. Ct. R. 13. 

5058 UNITED STATES v. PETE

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the government’s mandamus petition, “the district court justifiably could defer trial until resolution of the appellate proceedings. . . . Had the government prevailed on the merits of

the mandamus petition . . . the trial strategies of the government as well as the defense would surely have been altered.”).

[12] We conclude, instead, that the least awkward and most

practical interpretation of the STA, given the competing considerations, is that once the defendant has clearly announced

in a court document an intention to file a certiorari petition,

the time following such an announcement is excludable under

the STA as a “delay resulting from an[ ] interlocutory appeal”

until (1) the defendant formally disclaims that intent; (2) the

period for filing a petition for a writ of certiorari expires; (3)

the petition is filed but denied; or (4) the petition is granted,

decided on the merits, and any further court of appeals proceedings are concluded. As Pete filed a motion to recall the

mandate, spelling out his intention to file a petition for a writ

of certiorari, the period from the filing of that motion until the

certiorari petition was denied is excluded under the STA. 

III.

[13] For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the entire

period from the time Pete filed his motion to recall the mandate on December 23, 2004, up until the Supreme Court

denied Pete’s certiorari petition on June 20, 2005, is excludable. As a result, there was no violation of the STA. Thus, the

district court’s denial of Pete’s motion to dismiss based on the

STA is AFFIRMED. 

UNITED STATES v. PETE 5059

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