Court Opinion

ID: 9462995
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:55:39.890225+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:53.283777
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The federal courts have long possessed the inherent power, derived from the common law, to dismiss a case for want of prosecution. United States v. Furey, 514 F.2d 1098, 1103-1104 (2nd Cir. 1975); United States v. McWilliams, 82 U.S.App.D.C. 259, 163 F.2d 695, 696 (1947); Ex Parte Altman, 34 F.Supp. 106, 108 (S.D.Cal.1940); District of Columbia v. Weams, 208 A.2d 617 (D.C.Mun.App.1965). See also Note, Justice Overdue — Speedy Trial for the Potential Defendant, 5 Stan.L.Rev. 95, 104 (1952). This power is rooted in the court’s supervisory authority over its own jurisdiction, and its exercise has traditionally been within the court’s discretion. United States v. Furey, supra at 1103; United States v. McWilliams, supra at 696; Ex Parte Altman, supra at 108. As stated by Mr. Justice Frankfurter in Nardone v. United States, 308 U.S. 338, 341-342, 60 S.Ct. 266, 268, 84 L.Ed. 307 (1939):
Dispatch in the trial of criminal causes is essential in bringing crime to book. * * * The civilized conduct of criminal trials cannot be confined within mechanical rules. It necessarily demands the authority of limited direction entrusted to the judge presiding in federal trials, including a well-established range of judicial discretion, subject to appropriate review on appeal, in ruling upon preliminary questions of fact. Such a system as ours must, within the limits here indicated, rely on the learning, good sense, fairness and courage of federal trial judges.
The discretionary authority is broadly described. The cited cases present factually the post-arrest situation, but the court’s authority over its jurisdiction is not so limited. Reason dictates this conclusion. Judicial concern for the preservation of proof, the maximization of the deterrent effect of prosecution, the minimization of potential additional criminal conduct and the sure arrest of the individual apply no less forcefully to the pre-arrest situation. The Supreme Court has not indicated otherwise.
In the instant case, the sales with which Quinn was charged allegedly took place between May 1, 1974, and June 4, 1974. Those with which Wilson was charged allegedly occurred between April 1,1974, and July 16, 1974. Although all active undercover investigations of these defendants were completed by September, 1974, indictments against them were not filed until August 8, 1975, more than a year after the commission of the alleged offenses. Under these circumstances, I do not believe that the dismissal of the indictments by the District Court constituted an abuse of discretion, and that, accordingly, the orders of the District Court should be affirmed.
Nothing is more important to the administration of criminal justice than the prompt arrest, indictment and trial of those accused of crimes. Of equal importance is the prompt completion of the appellate procedure. The reasons are twofold. The rights of an accused can be better protected and the interests of society can be better served.
Congress has addressed itself to a principal cause of delay in the Speedy Trial Act of 1974. See H.R.Rep. No. 93-1508, 4 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News, pp. 7402-7414, 7422-7426 (1974). This Court has addressed itself to appellate delay in its original and amended plans for expediting criminal appeals. We should not tie the hands of the District Court judges who attempt to deal with prosecutorial delay in the pre-arrest phase of criminal proceedings. See K. Da*364vis, Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry, 209-214 (1969).
The negative power to withhold prosecution and to decide when and whether to initiate criminal proceedings is even greater than the affirmative power to prosecute because it is less protected against abuse. See id. at 22, 188-191. For the potential defendant, the consequences of a deliberate choice on the part of the government to delay the initiation of prosecution may be severe. See Note, The Right to a Speedy Trial, 20 Stan.L.Rev. 476, 489 (1968). The consequences to society of a deliberate delay in prosecution may be equally severe.