Opinion ID: 2353930
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Purposeful Aspect of Delay

Text: To be chargeable against the government, delay need not be due to bad faith or chicanery. United States v. Parrott, 248 F.Supp. 196, 203 (D.D.C.1965). See also Pollard v. United States, 352 U.S. 354, 361, 77 S.Ct. 481, 1 L.Ed.2d 393 (1957). But it must be shown that the government has made a deliberate choice for a proposed advantage, which caused as much oppressive delay and damage to the defendant as it would have caused if it had been made in bad faith. Petition of Provoo, 17 F.R. D. 183, 202 (D.Md.), affirmed per curiam, 350 U.S. 847, 76 S.Ct. 101 (1955). After weighing the responsibility of the government for the time lags in the present case, we are of the opinion that the delay attributable to it was not malicious, vexatious or of such nature and duration as to warrant a reversal.