Opinion ID: 527043
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Revocation of Probation

Text: 10 Six months later, in January 1988, the defendant contacted the government and requested resolution of the probation revocation charges. In February, the district court for the Central District of Illinois set a formal hearing date of March 14, 1988. A docket entry dated February 10, 1988 indicated that all parties had been notified of the hearing by mail. 11 On March 8, 1988, an addendum to the petition for probation action was filed. This addendum advised the district court of the disposition of the Missouri-based charges and also alleged, as grounds for the revocation of probation, the Indiana-based charges that had been transferred to Missouri. These latter charges had not been alleged in the original petition for revocation of probation. On March 9, 1988, the defendant's attorney, Allan A. Ackerman, filed a motion to continue the probation revocation hearing for six weeks on the ground that he had not had a chance to prepare adequately for the proceedings. 2 R.14. This motion was denied the following day. On March 14, Howard Feldman, an attorney also retained by the defendant, appeared before the district court and renewed Mr. Ackerman's motion for a continuance. The district court offered a continuance until later the same day, but, after determining that the revocation would be handled as a bifurcated matter (revocation first and later a separate sentencing hearing), the defendant and Mr. Feldman declined the court's offer and decided to proceed immediately. R.25 at 13-15. Mr. Feldman argued that the thirteen-month delay between the original petition for probation action and the hearing date was unreasonable. However, the district court determined that the delay was not unreasonable, noting that the question of reasonableness under Rule 32.1 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is dependent on the surrounding circumstances of each individual case. The district court revoked the defendant's probation and set sentencing for March 29, 1988. 12 On March 29, the defendant appeared again with retained counsel Feldman. Attorney Ackerman was not present for sentencing and no reason was given for his absence. The district court heard the arguments of counsel and imposed a ten-year sentence to run consecutively to the five-year sentence imposed by the federal court in Missouri. A timely notice of appeal was filed on April 7, 1988. II