Opinion ID: 2978260
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Start of the Speedy Trial Clock

Text: The district court found that the Speedy Trial clock began to run on October 31, 2005, the date that Tinklenberg first appeared after his October 20, 2005 indictment. The government argues that in cases such as this one–where an indictment is filed and the defendant subsequently appears, but does not plead not guilty until a later date–the seventy day period does not begin until the not guilty plea. However, this Court has held that where the defendant’s not guilty plea follows his indictment and initial appearance, whichever of the indictment or initial appearance that occurs last starts the seventy day period. United States v. Mentz, 840 F.2d 315, 325-26 (6th Cir. 1988). Nos. 06-2646; 08-1765 United States v. Tinklenberg Page 6 Moreover, the plain language of the statute supports starting the clock from the date Tinklenberg initially appeared. “In any case in which a plea of not guilty is entered, the trial of a defendant . . . shall commence within seventy days from the filing date (and making public) of the information or indictment, or from the date the defendant has appeared before a judicial officer of the court in which such charge is pending, whichever date last occurs.” 18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(1) (emphasis added). Thus, the statute refers to the defendant’s plea in setting forth the general precondition that the Speedy Trial Act’s requirements are only relevant in cases in which the defendant proceeds to trial; otherwise, the statute make no reference to the not guilty plea. See id. However, the statute uses different language, i.e., “the date the defendant has appeared,” as the time the seventy day period begins, if the indictment has already been filed. Id. The well-established rule that “where Congress includes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another section of the same Act, it is generally presumed that Congress acts intentionally and purposely in the disparate inclusion or exclusion[,]” Russello v. United States, 464 U.S. 16, 23 (1983), applies even more clearly where Congress uses contrasting language in the same sentence. Thus, under the plain language of the statute, “the date the defendant has appeared,” and not the defendant’s “plea of not guilty,” begins the seventy day period. The government cites United States v. O’Dell, 154 F.3d 358, 360-62 (6th Cir. 1998), to support its opposing position that if the initial appearance occurs before a defendant’s not guilty plea, the date of the not guilty plea is the event that starts the clock. However, O’Dell is inapposite. In O’Dell, the defendant initially agreed to plead guilty to manufacturing marijuana pursuant to an information before an indictment was ever filed, and then subsequently withdrew his plea. 154 F.3d at 359. The government then indicted him for the first time, and he pled not guilty. Id. at 359-60. This Court held that the defendant’s indictment represented an entirely new case against the defendant, and that the defendant’s initial appearance after that indictment, when he pled not guilty, triggered the Speedy Trial clock. Id. at 362. This Court found that the clock never started in the defendant’s earlier case, because he never entered a not guilty plea in the earlier case. Thus, O’Dell stands only for the proposition that the Speedy Trial Act does not apply to a case in which the defendant never pleads not guilty. Although this Court opined that the Speedy Trial Act “requires a not guilty plea to begin the clock running,” that statement was irrelevant to the outcome of Nos. 06-2646; 08-1765 United States v. Tinklenberg Page 7 the case and was therefore dicta. See United States v. Lopez-Valenzuela, 511 F.3d 487, 490 (5th Cir. 2007) (concluding that this Court’s finding in O’Dell that a defendant’s not guilty plea starts the seventy day period was dicta). In short, although the Speedy Trial Act applies only to cases in which the defendant has entered a not guilty plea, the initial appearance after the indictment is the event that triggers the seventy day period. Accordingly, Tinklenberg’s initial appearance on October 31, 2005 triggered the Speedy Trial Act’s seventy day period. Following Tinklenberg’s initial appearance, one day, November 1, 2005, lapsed before Tinklenberg moved for, and the court granted, a competency evaluation on November 2, 2005. The Speedy Trial clock thereby stopped after one day had lapsed.