Opinion ID: 740029
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Delay Between the First and Second Trials

Text: 27 Four and a half years passed between Ross's first mistrial and his second trial. Rather than retrying Ross within the time prescribed by the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161(e), the prosecution chose to dismiss the indictment without prejudice. The government wanted to postpone retrying Ross in order to try him jointly with Manning, who had yet to be extradited from Israel. The time between the dismissal of a first indictment and the issuing of a second is generally considered preindictment delay and analyzed under due process principles. United States v. Hayden, 860 F.2d 1483, 1486 (9th Cir.1988). Even if it were well known that the government would reindict, that fact would not be legally significant. Id. at 1486 n. 3. Any bad faith on the part of the prosecution is considered when weighing the length of the delay against the reasons for it, in order to decide whether a preindictment delay violates the due process clause. See Moran, 759 F.2d at 782 (where intentional governmental conduct is alleged, defendant need show less resulting delay and/or prejudice). 28 After Ross was recharged, his counsel deposed the original prosecutor on the case about why she chose to postpone retrying Ross. The prosecutor admitted that she wanted to wait until Manning had been extradited because the likelihood of convicting Ross without Manning's presence at trial was slim. 29 While prosecutors are generally free to try defendants jointly, the reason for this is efficiency and economy. Here, where the prosecutor admitted that the decision to join was made in order to increase the odds of conviction, the decision is more questionable. See, e.g., United States v. Lovasco, 431 U.S. 783, 794-95, 795 n. 17, 97 S.Ct. 2044, 2051, 2051 n. 17, 52 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977) (tactical delay is impermissible, but delay caused by the ongoing investigative process is not); United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 325, 92 S.Ct. 455, 465, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971) (delay that is neither tactical nor actually prejudicial is permissible); United States v. Sherlock, 962 F.2d 1349, 1355 (9th Cir.1992) (delay caused by investigation permissible). We need not decide, however, whether the prosecution acted in bad faith because we hold that Ross suffered no actual prejudice from the government's delay in reindicting him. 30 As explained above, Ross must show some form of actual prejudice before we need balance the factors to determine whether his due process rights were violated by the delay. As we have already established, Ross can show no actual prejudice from the loss of Peter as a witness. Between the first trial and the second, however, several potential witnesses died, and Ross alleges that other key witnesses suffered memory losses. 31 Three of the witnesses who died testified at Ross's first trial. Ross could have introduced the trial transcripts of that testimony and therefore was not prejudiced by their absence. 1 The fourth deceased potential witness did not testify at the first trial, but Ross has not shown what this witness would have testified, and thus any prejudice is speculative. 32 Ross further claims prejudice from the possible memory loss of witness Marilyn Annis. Annis played an important role in linking Manning and Ross, and Ross claims it prejudiced his defense that she was unable to remember key details of a meeting that she testified both Ross and Manning had attended. Annis had earlier told a postal inspector that she only saw Ross enter the CJA as she was leaving, while at trial she indicated that Ross and Manning communicated during a meeting. Ross, however, had the opportunity to impeach Annis with her prior statement. 33 Ross's final claim of prejudice, the potential memory loss of a contractor who was present at a meeting between Ross and Adams, is likewise speculative. There is no evidence that the contractor's testimony could have aided the defense. 34 Because we find that Ross was not prejudiced by the four-year-plus delay, we need not balance the delay with the reasons behind it.