Opinion ID: 479235
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: claimed denial of speedy trial

Text: 91 Defendant alleges that he was not brought to trial within the time limits prescribed in the Speedy Trial Act, and seeks dismissal pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3162(a)(2). Although the government asserts that the Speedy Trial Act excludes adequate segments of the delays which occurred, we need not perform this analysis. The indictment was returned February 28, 1979, and under Sec. 3163(c), Sec. 3162 does not apply to indictments filed before July 1, 1980. There is no claim of an earlier implementation of Sec. 3162 in the Southern District of Indiana under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3174(c). 92 Defendant also asserts a violation of his constitutional right to a speedy trial, measured under Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 515, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 2184, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972). That decision calls for a difficult and sensitive balancing process. Id. at 533, 92 S.Ct. at 2193. Four factors were identified, though not an exhaustive list: [l]ength of delay, the reason for the delay, the defendant's assertion of his right, and prejudice to the defendant. Id. at 530, 92 S.Ct. at 2192 (footnote omitted).
93 Defendant was indicted February 28, 1979. Although he had been arrested September 20, 1978, the arrest was based on the official insignia charges, and not the bombing charges. The official insignia charges were soon dismissed without prejudice. Similar charges were included in the February indictment. Defendant was brought to trial on the bombing counts involved in this appeal (along with the other counts) September 22, 1980, less than nineteen months after indictment. The jury could not agree on the bombing counts. Retrial began August 17, 1981, little more than ten months after the close of the first trial. 94 Defendant would have us treat the length of delay, for Barker purposes, as the almost 30 months from indictment to the retrial. It seems more sensible, however, to deal separately with the nineteen month lapse before the first trial, and ten month lapse from the first trial to the retrial. The Barker Court observed that 95 [u]ntil there is some delay which is presumptively prejudicial, there is no necessity for inquiry into the other factors that go into the balance. Nevertheless, because of the imprecision of the right to speedy trial, the length of delay that will provoke such an inquiry is necessarily dependent upon the peculiar circumstances of the case. [Footnote omitted.] To take but one example, the delay that can be tolerated for an ordinary street crime is considerably less than for a serious, complex conspiracy charge. 96 407 U.S. at 530-31, 92 S.Ct. at 2192. 97 This court has found presumptive prejudice in a nineteen month delay (attempted bank robbery), United States v. DeTienne, 468 F.2d 151, 156 (7th Cir.1972), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 911, 93 S.Ct. 977, 35 L.Ed.2d 274 (1973), and in a one year delay (assaulting a postal employee), United States v. Jackson, 542 F.2d 403, 407 (7th Cir.1976). Although those cases are distinguishable because they were far simpler than this one, we shall assume the nineteen month delay before the first trial and the ten month delay before the retrial are presumptively prejudicial, and weigh the other factors.
98 On the day of the indictment, defendant was before a federal court in Texas seeking a reduction in bond. He had been indicted for conspiracy to possess and for importation and possession with intent to distribute four thousand pounds of marijuana. The prosecution in Texas was disposed of June 11, 1980, when he was sentenced on a plea of guilty, to one count, and returned to Indiana June 16. For about three months of the time before disposition in Texas, defendant was in custody at Springfield, Missouri for study, including inquiry into his competency to stand trial. 99 There seems to be little question that the delay from June 16 to September 22, when trial began, was reasonably necessary for disposition of pre-trial motions. 100 Although fourteen months of the nineteen month lapse before trial in Indiana would appear to be caused by the disposition in Texas, defendant correctly points out that during much of the time the presiding judge in Texas thought that trial in Indiana should go first. To that end, defendant was transferred to Indiana September 5, 1979, arraigned on September 7, and a trial date set. He was, however, ordered back to Texas October 30, 1979 and remained there except for the time at Springfield. There seems to have been some inconsistency among the views of the two district judges and two United States Attorneys as to which prosecution should take precedence, but ultimately the one in Texas was resolved first. 101 Doubtless because defendant made no motion to dismiss for want of speedy trial, the record contains no real explanation why the Texas prosecution went first. We gather that defendant considered the case in Texas as much stronger and that he would have had a better chance of acquittal in Indiana if tried earlier. We are unaware of a constitutional principle whereby one who is accused in two districts has a right to have the weaker case tried first.
102 Defendant did not formally demand a speedy trial and made no motion to dismiss on that ground. Had he filed a motion, it would have given him the opportunity to place in the record any evidence to support the assertions in his brief that he doggedly demanded to be tried in Indiana, or to support his suggestions that the prosecutors and marshals were improperly motivated.
103 Defendant remained incarcerated in Texas because he was unable to post the bond set in Indiana. He asserts prejudice in the discomforts and inconvenience of incarceration, and impairment of ability to contact his Indiana attorneys. He does not claim the loss of a witness or similar specific prejudice during the period before the first trial.
104 A substantial portion of the ten month lapse between the first trial and retrial resulted from continuances requested by defendant. The second trial (Counts 23 and 24) ran from May 18 to June 3, 1981. Defendant did not seek an earlier retrial of Counts 1 through 22. 105 He argues that he was prejudiced by the death of a witness, his brother, Scott Kimberlin. He asserts that Scott would have corroborated the testimony of defendant and of another witness that Scott Kimberlin had possession of the Tovex after May 1975. Scott was available for the first trial, but defendant says he did not call him because at the first trial the government produced no evidence that defendant retained possession of the Tovex after May, 1975. If the unavailability of Scott had any adverse effect on defendant's case, it cannot fairly be ascribed to the delay in the retrial. Scott was killed only one week after the first trial. 106 Defendant also claims he was prejudiced by what he describes as the loss of the diary of Tina Duerden. 107 Tina Duerden was an apparently disinterested witness who was employed at a restaurant where defendant and two other witnesses testified they had eaten the evening of September 2, 1978. They testified concerning an incident in which defendant had comforted the young employee, who accidentally broke some dishes, and had given her a substantial tip. At trial it turned out that Tina was in Denmark, and after a telephone conversation, counsel stipulated that if present she would testify that she recalled a similar incident. She could not remember the date, but did believe I wrote about the incident in a journal. Tina's mother testified that she found both journals, but could not find the entry referred to. Obviously it is questionable whether there was any loss of a diary, and further, defendant may well have been at the restaurant the evening of September 2 and also have been at the site of explosion No. 5 within the hour before 12:15 AM, September 3, the time it went off. 108 In summary, we conclude, balancing the factors described, that neither the delay occurring before the first trial, nor the delay between trials, was a denial of defendant's Sixth Amendment speedy trial rights. 109 Defendant also argues that the forty-five month delay in indictment for the receipt of explosives on May 14, 1975 violated the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause. Counts 23 and 24, however, are not before us in Appeal No. 82-1025. 110