Opinion ID: 564373
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Delay in the Charge

Text: 7 The government did not charge Nichols for almost nine months after the events in question occurred. The superseding indictment was brought more than 11 months after his arrest. Nichols argues that the delay in charging him denied him due process by preventing him from effectively defending himself and by giving the government a tactical advantage. Nichols failed to raise this argument before the district court and thus has waived it on appeal. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(1) (objections to untimely prosecution are to be brought before trial by motion). This court may review this issue only if Nichols establishes that the government committed plain error in failing to bring charges at an earlier date. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b); see also United States v. Frady, 456 U.S. 152, 163, 102 S.Ct. 1584, 1592, 71 L.Ed.2d 816 (1982) (appellate courts may correct particularly egregious errors). There is plain error where a conviction results when, but for the error, the defendant would have been acquitted. United States v. Felton, 908 F.2d 186, 188 (7th Cir.1990). 8 Although a statute of limitations is the primary guarantee against prosecutorial delay, the due process clause also plays a limited role in protecting defendants against oppressive delay. United States v. Lovasco, 431 U.S. 783, 789, 97 S.Ct. 2044, 2048, 52 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977). To determine whether the due process clause requires the dismissal of an indictment on the basis of undue pre-indictment delay, a court must engage in a two-step inquiry: 1) the defendant must prove actual and substantial prejudice; and 2) the court must weigh the prejudice to the defendant against the reasons for the delay. United States v. Antonino, 830 F.2d 798, 804 (7th Cir.1987). The mere passage of time in itself is not enough to show prejudice. United States v. Perry, 815 F.2d 1100, 1103 (7th Cir.1987). 9 At the time of Nichols' arrest, there were three or four other people in the apartment. They were patted down to make sure that they had no guns. An officer testified that he had other officers interview those people, but there are no police records of any interviews or of the identity of the individuals. Nichols' defense was that the gun was not his and that it was there before he entered the apartment. Nichols argues that the delay between the arrest and the indictment prejudiced him because he had no opportunity to locate, interview, and subpoena the individuals who were at the apartment at the time of his arrest. He further argues that the failure on the part of the Chicago police to memorialize the identification and prospective testimony of these people created a presumption that their testimony would have been favorable to Nichols. See United States v. Mahone, 537 F.2d 922, 926 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1025, 97 S.Ct. 646, 50 L.Ed.2d 627 (1976) (citing Graves v. United States, 150 U.S. 118, 121, 14 S.Ct. 40, 41, 37 L.Ed. 1021 (1893)). 10 In support of his contention, Nichols cites a case that this court remanded because the investigation by the Chicago police was so sloppy that, by the time the federal authorities took the case, it was too late to conduct a reasonable investigation. United States v. Morales, 902 F.2d 604, 607 (7th Cir.), amended on other grounds, 910 F.2d 467 (1990). There, too, the Chicago police followed a man into a building, found a gun, and charged him with possessing a firearm. There, too, the defendant denied that he had put the gun there. However, that is where the comparison ends. The issue in Morales was sufficiency of the evidence. The issue here is pre-indictment delay, and prejudice caused by such delay is difficult to prove. 11 A defendant's showing of prejudice must be concrete, not speculative. United States v. Doerr, 886 F.2d 944, 964 (7th Cir.1989). Nichols does not know who those people in the apartment were. He does not know whether they lived there or whether they had been there for just a few minutes before he arrived. Nor does he know if any of them would have testified that the gun was on the back porch before he arrived. While it is true that it would have been useful had the Chicago police kept a record of its interview with these potential witnesses, [a] defendant must do more than allege that a particular witness is no longer available and that the witness's testimony would have helped the defense. Antonino, 830 F.2d at 895. There is no way of knowing if those present in the apartment would have presented exculpatory testimony, would have withstood cross-examination, or would have been found credible by the jury. Doerr, 886 F.2d at 964. Nichols has failed to make the requisite showing of actual and substantial prejudice and, consequently, has not shown plain error.