Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_05-cr-00736/USCOURTS-cand-3_05-cr-00736-3/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Daniel Ben Nogara
Defendant
USA
Plaintiff

Document Text:

SCOTT N. SCHOOLS (SCBN 9990) 

United States Attorney 

MARK L. KROTOSKI (CASBN 138549) 

Chief, Criminal Division 

ERIKA R. FRICK (CASBN 208150) 

Assistant United States Attorney 

450 Golden Gate Avenue, Box 36055 

San Francisco, California 94102 

Telephone: (415) 436-6973 

Facsimile: (415) 436-7234 

E-Mail: erika.frick@usdoi.aov 

Attorneys for Plaintiff 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 

LJNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) No. CR 05-0736 WHA 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

DANIEL BEN NOGARA, 

Defendant. 

) 

) [PROPOSED] ORDER AND MOTION 

) FOR CONTINUANCE OF 

1 EVIDENTIARY HEARING FROM 

) MAY 14,2007 TO JUNE 4,2007 

i Hearing Date: May 14,2007 

The United States of America, plaintiff, through counsel of record Scott N. Schools, 

United States Attorney, and Erika R. Frick, Assistant United States Attorney, hereby moves this 

Court to continue the evidentiary hearing date as set forth below: 

1. The parties appeared before Your Honor on March 27,2007 in regards to a Form 

12 for alleged supervised release violations. Specifically, Mr. Nogara has been charged with four 

violations of the conditions of his supervised release: (1) committing another Federal, State, or 

CR 05-0736 WHA 

MOTION FOR CONTINUANCE 

Case 3:05-cr-00736-WHA Document 18-1 Filed 04/19/2007 Page 1 of 4
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~cal crime, in that (a) he possessed chemicals, organic solvents, glassware, and other equipment 

nown to be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine andlor MDMA, in violation of 21 

J.S.C. 4 856 (establishment of manufacturing operations),' and (b) he used his minor wife, 

Cvelyn NOGARA, to assist him in his drug-manufacturing endeavor, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 3 

61 (employment or use of persons under 18 years of age);2 (2) violating the special condition of 

upervision stating that he may not possess any drug paraphernalia; (3) violating the special 

ondition of supervision that he participate in drug treatment; and (4) violating the special 

ondition of supervision that he shall not have any surveillance cameras on his residence. 

2. At the March 27 appearance, the parties agreed upon an evidentiary hearing date 

lf May 14,2007. Your Honor noted that the government would be permitted to file a motion for 

ontinuance if needed, and that the government should do so as far in advance of the hearing as 

lossible. 

3. During the week of April 9,2007, the government learned that it would take 

snger than anticipated to search the laptop computers seized from Mr. Nogara's residence during 

he search conducted by the Probation Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency ("DEA"). The 

omputers had to be shipped to the DEA's laboratory in Virginia, and the earliest return date for 

he evidence is predicted to be May 7,2007, just one week before the currently scheduled 

videntiary hearing. 

4. The government expects that the evidence on the Nogara laptops will be important 

' There are three elements to the offense of establishing manufacturing operations under 21 U.S.C. 8 856: 

(1) that the defendant knowingly (2) leased, rented, used, or maintained any place (3) for the purpose of 

unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a controlled substance. 

'The crime of using a minor to violate a drug law under 21 U.S.C. 3 841(a)(l) and 86l(a)(l) requires 

establishment of four elements: (1) the defendant knowingly used, persuaded, or coerced a minor to violate 

a drug law; (2) the defendant knew that the conduct at issue involved a prohibited substance; (3) the 

defendant was at least 18 years of age: and (4) the minor was under the age of 18 years. 

:R 05-0736 WHA 

vlOTION FOR CONTINUANCE -2- 

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:o the government's case as the laptops are likely to contain written evidence linking Mr. Nogara 

to the chemicals, glassware, and other paraphernalia found during the search and Mr. Nogara 

appears to be contesting whether he was the rightful owner or recipient of those items. The 

government is concerned that if the evidence is hrther delayed due to the backlog at the DEA 

laboratory, the evidence may not be available for the evidentiw bearing. The government has 

:xplored other options for searching the computers, but has not found any more expeditious way 

to have the computer evidence reviewed. 

5. In an abundance of caution, even though there is a search condition contained in 

Lhe terms of Mr. Nogara's supervised release, the government has today filed a request for a 

search warrant with Magistrate Judge Nandor J. Vadas to search the computers. A true and 

:orrect copy of the search warrant papers is attached hereto as Exhibit A. 

6. During the week of April 16,2007, AUSA Frick also learned that the DEA agent 

has not yet received back many of the forensic results from laboratory tests of the chemicals 

found during the search of the Nogara residence. The results are expected to be returned by April 

27,2007. 

7. In addition to the delays in obtaining the computer and forensic evidence, AUSA 

Frick will be at the National Advocacy Center in South Carolina for training and unavailable 

from April 23,2007, through May 4,2007. 

8. During the week of April 9,2007, after learning of the unexpected delay in 

searching the computers, AUSA Frick contacted counsel for the defendant, Martha Boersch, to 

alert her to this issue. Ms. Boersch indicated that she would speak to her client about a proposed 

continuance. On April 13,2007, Ms. Boersch informed Ms. Frick that Mr. Nogara would not 

consent to any continuance. 

9. Mr. Nogara is currently in custody and has been in custody since on or about 

March 15, 2007. If found in violation of the conditions of his supervised release by a 

preponderance of the evidence, Mr. Nogara faces a statutory maximum sentence of two years. 

His Guideline range, given a criminal history category of III and a B grade violation, is 8 to 14 

CR 05-0736 WHA 

MOTION FOR CONTINUANCE 

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nonths. Due to the severity of the alleged violations, the Probation Officer is recommending that 

dr. Nogara be sentenced to the maximum penalty of two years. The time that Mr. Nogara is 

:urrently serving would count against any sentence that Mr. Nogara will ultimately receive. 

3iven the strong evidence against Mr. Nogara, he is unlikely to be prejudiced by this brief 

:ontinuance of the evidentiary hearing. 

10. The government therefore files this opposedmotion to continue the hearing until 

'une 4, 2007, or until this Court's first available hearing date. 

IATED: April 19,2007 Respectfully submitted, 

SCOTT N. SCHOOLS 

United States Attorney A /-- 

ORDER 

For good cause shown, it is hereby ordered that the evidentiary hearing in the above- 

:aptioned matter shall be continued from May 14,2007 to June 4,2007, to allow sufficient time 

Tor the parties to receive and analyze computer evidence and forensic evidence relating to the 

illeged supervised release violations. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

IATED: 

THE HON. WILLIAM H. ALSUP 

United States District Court 

CR 05-0736 WHA 

MOTION FOR CONTINUANCE 

Case 3:05-cr-00736-WHA Document 18-1 Filed 04/19/2007 Page 4 of 4

The hearing will be at 8:00 a.m. April 25, 2007

U

NITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

IT IS SO ORDERED

Judge William Alsup

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