Opinion ID: 3002082
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Douglas Farmer

Text: On November 18, 2004, Farmer was indicted for conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, cocaine base, and marijuana, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1), (b)(1)(A), 846, and 18 U.S.C. § 2; thirteen others were named in the indictment on conspiracy and/or various other drug-related offenses. The last defendant was arraigned on January 13, 2005. On December 1, 2004, one of the co-defendants filed a motion to suppress. While that was pending, another motion was filed, then another, then another; in fact, a series of overlapping motions continued pending throughout the duration of the case. On February 22, 2007, Farmer filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, alleging a violation of the Speedy Trial Act, Nos. 07-2505, 07-2506, 07-2507 and 07-3313 3 18 U.S.C. § 3161 et seq. Farmer acknowledged that “excludable days of delay ha[d] occurred,” but argued that “the delay that has been experienced herein exceeds any permissible exception visualized by the Speedy Trial Act.” The district court denied Farmer’s motion, finding that seventy days of non-excludable time had not passed between the last co-defendant’s arraignment and Farmer’s trial because of the filing of several motions by Farmer and his co-defendants. Farmer re-asserts the same argument on appeal, and like the district court, we reject it. We review the district court’s denial of Farmer’s Speedy Trial motion de novo. See United States v. Parker, 508 F.3d 434, 438 (7th Cir. 2007) (citing United States v. Baskin-Bey, 45 F.3d 200, 203 (7th Cir. 1995)). The Speedy Trial Act provides that no more than seventy days may elapse between a defendant’s initial appearance in court and the commencement of trial. 18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(1); Parker, 508 F.3d at 438. When more than one defendant is charged in an indictment, the Speedy Trial clock begins to run on the date of the last co-defendant’s initial appearance, which is usually arraignment. Parker, 508 F.3d at 439; United States v. Garrett, 45 F.3d 1135, 1138 (7th Cir. 1995). In calculating the Speedy Trial clock, the Act specifically excludes “delay resulting from any pretrial motion, from the filing of the motion through the conclusion of the hearing on, or other prompt disposition of, such motion.” 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(F). Furthermore, the Act excludes any reasonable time lapse occurring “when the defendant is joined for trial with a codefendant as to whom the time for trial has not run and no motion for severance has been granted.” 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7); see Henderson v. 4 Nos. 07-2505, 07-2506, 07-2507 and 07-3313 United States, 476 U.S. 321, 323 n.2 (1986) (noting that in multi-defendant cases, the seventy-day clock does not begin until the last co-defendant has been arraigned). The excludable delay of Farmer’s co-defendants is ascribed to him, since Farmer was not severed, nor did he seek severance, from those co-defendants for trial. See United States v. Baker, 40 F.3d 154, 159 (7th Cir. 1994). As Farmer acknowledges, overlapping motions filed by himself and his co-defendants remained before the district court throughout the time between his last codefendant’s arraignment on January 13, 2005, and the start of his trial on March 6, 2007. Farmer properly concedes that seventy days of non-excludable time did not lapse. So despite over two years passing between Farmer’s indictment and the commencement of his trial, no Speedy Trial Act violation occurred. (In fact, although no mention was made of it in this appeal, on February 21, 2005, Farmer filed a Waiver of Speedy Trial.) We disagree with Farmer that such a delay “makes a mockery of [the Act’s] statutory protection”; to the contrary, we find the delay necessary to ensure that the defendants’s pre-trial motions were adequately considered as to minimize the effect of any infringement on their rights resulting from an improper indictment, illegally seized evidence, or any other impropriety.1 Accordingly, we affirm Farmer’s 1 The pre-trial motions filed by Farmer alone that contributed to the delay included motions for reconsideration of bond, to continue, to change counsel, to suppress evidence, and to disqualify the first assigned district court judge. Had the (continued...) Nos. 07-2505, 07-2506, 07-2507 and 07-3313 5 conviction.