Opinion ID: 338465
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Circumstances of Delay

Text: 10 The government contends that the reason for the delay in bringing the indictments was that other undercover activity in the area relating to illegal firearms would have been jeopardized had prosecutions been immediately initiated following completion of the investigations of Quinn and Wilson. The government stated to the District Court that active undercover investigations of these defendants were completed by September, 1974; and Agent Patterson testified that the testing of the guns to establish that they were in fact operable firearms had been completed by November, 1974. There was no showing in this record that further deferral of prosecution of these defendants was necessary to protect the identity of undercover agents then engaged in other continuing investigations. On the other hand, there was no showing that the delay was the result of an intentional effort on the part of the government to impair by such delay the defendants' ability to defend themselves. The question here is whether the government's delay of prosecution beyond the time needed to protect ongoing undercover investigations is, without other justification, unreasonable. Couched in these terms, the delay must be regarded as unreasonable, but the burden of proving substantial prejudice remained with the defendants. See United States v. Jackson, supra, 504 F.2d at 339 n. 2.