Opinion ID: 783051
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Gamesmanship Aspect of Prosecution

Text: 51 The District Court's final concern that the broader implications of the Government's argument are troubling, id., is an extension of its finding of a Government run-around. According to the Court, 52 [t]he Government advances an interpretation of the Speedy Trial Act that would not merely encourage irresponsible gamesmanship, but eviscerate the Act altogether. Under its interpretation of Oliver, the Government would be free to file a complaint charging only conspiracy, knowing full well that in the event of a dismissal for violations of the Speedy Trial Act it would nevertheless be free to prosecute the substantive offense which the defendant allegedly conspired to do. For this reason, as well, the Government's position is untenable. 53 Id. The District Court's alarm is, paradoxically, both misdirected and well-founded. It is misdirected because the Court's real quarrel is with Congress and our Circuit, which respectively drafted and construed the Speedy Trial Act in such a way that the Government may file a complaint charging conspiracy, aware that, in the event of a dismissal for violating the Speedy Trial Act, it may still prosecute the substantive offense. Nevertheless, the District Court's reservations are also well-founded, especially as Defendants in their reply brief raise for the first time another Speedy Trial Act violation in this case, previously unnoticed by all involved. When the Government filed its motion for a second thirty-day continuance, it misstated both the date that the first thirty-day period had expired and the date that the second thirty-day period was to begin. In other words, by incorrectly stating on September 20, 2001, that the first continuance was to expire that day, when in fact it had expired the day before, the Government had violated the Speedy Trial Act by one day. The Government concedes the error, which it attributes to inadvertence and poor recordkeeping. (This is, we note, the same excuse the Government offers for its later violation in failing to indict the Defendants timely.) 54 The disclosure of this additional error obviously is relevant, as it bolsters the District Court's warnings that relaxed enforcement of the Speedy Trial Act's strictures inevitably increases noncompliance by the Government. Though we accept the assurances provided by the Government in its briefs and at argument that it has implemented safeguards to prevent future mistakes, we empathize with the District Court's frustration. But this additional error, unhelpful as it is, ultimately does not affect our disposition of this appeal. The day-late motion for a second continuance was consented to by both Defendants to permit the parties additional time to explore a plea bargain. And as a practical matter, even were we inclined to hold that this Speedy Trial Act violation merited dismissal with prejudice, the result still would be dismissal of the conspiracy charge contained in the complaint, not the importation charge contained in the later indictment. 55