Court Opinion

ID: 9465343
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 00:43:46.051073+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:07.878168
License: Public Domain

OAKES, Circuit Judge
(concurring):
I reluctantly concur.
I agree with the majority that the due process claim concerning federal preindictment delay is unavailing because the delay was prompted by federal deference to a state prosecution and was not “an intentional device to gain tactical advantage over the accused.” United States v. Marion, 404 U.S. 307, 324, 92 S.Ct. 455, 465, 30 L.Ed.2d 468 (1971).
I also agree that the court does not have the inherent power to dismiss an indictment in the interest of justice.
Although the issue is close, I believe that there was sufficient delay to trigger a possible Sixth Amendment violation because the federal prosecuting authorities should have remained informed of the progress of the state prosecution. If the defendant had shown sufficient prejudice, the pretrial delay might have been excessive and might have warranted dismissal in light of the Government’s inadequate explanation for the delay in instituting prosecution. The permissive dismissal provision of Fed.R.Crim.P. 48(b) also might have justified the court’s action. I conclude, however, that the prejudice was insufficient to warrant dismissal.
Defendant was arrested on May 30, 1974, for her participation in a heroin sale that day by two others to undercover police officers. The operation was the work of a joint federal-state drug enforcement task force; the undercover officers were assigned to the task force, and federal officers participated in the arrest. Defendant was arraigned on state charges on May 31, 1974, *91and indicted by a state grand jury for drug offenses on June 21,1974. On September 7, 1976, the state court dismissed the indictment on speedy trial grounds because of repeated adjournments. Twenty months later, on May 15, 1978, defendant was indicted by a federal grand jury for drug offenses allegedly committed on May 29 and 30, 1974. The first trial, which commenced June 30, 1978, ended in a mistrial on July 5, 1978, when the jury could not reach a verdict. Retrial began the next day, and ended in a second mistrial on July 11, 1978. The court dismissed the indictment on that date.
I agree that under United States v. Mejias, 552 F.2d 435 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 847, 98 S.Ct. 154, 54 L.Ed.2d 115 (1977), delay for Sixth Amendment purposes should not be measured by the May 1974 arrest, even though here the federal agents had the evidence and in Mejias they did not. But I think delay should be measured from the September 1976 dismissal of state charges. I nevertheless conclude, after balancing all the speedy trial right factors, that the court’s dismissal was not within its discretion.
Under Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972), the court must consider four factors: the length of the delay, the reason for the delay, the defendant’s assertion of his right to a speedy trial, and prejudice to the defendant. With respect to length of delay, as stated, I would measure the time from the dismissal of the state charges. Once a state arrest or indictment has occurred, the reasons expressed in United States v. Marion, supra, for not counting any earlier period for Sixth Amendment purposes no longer have force with respect to the federal charge. Because the stage charges have already disrupted the defendant’s life, subjected her to “public obloquy,” and caused her anxiety, id., 404 U.S. at 320, 92 S.Ct. 455, there is no reason to apply the Marion requirement to the federal prosecution and measure the Sixth Amendment period by the timing of the federal arrest or indictment. Moreover, once the state charges were dismissed, particularly on speedy trial grounds, the defendant might properly have assumed that prosecution was no longer likely, or even possible, and have governed her life accordingly; in this regard it is probably not without significance that she did subsequently become pregnant. On balance, it is my view that the period for calculating length of delay should begin at the point when the federal prosecutor should reasonably have initiated his own efforts.
Here, federal proceedings should reasonably have been initiated soon after the state indictment was dismissed — say two months. In light of the cooperative nature of the drug enforcement operation, federal officials should have remained abreast of state developments. Thus, the length of delay is at least twenty months (the twenty-two month period between the state dismissal and the second federal mistrial less a reasonable preindictment period of two months). The Government relies on United States v. Hillegas, 578 F.2d 453 (2d Cir. 1978), to support its view that the post-dismissal, pre-federal indictment period should be excluded. But Hillegas involved a federal charge dismissed by the Government because its principal witnesses refused to cooperate, followed by another federal charge after they had to do so. Here, the second (federal) indictment could have been brought immediately after the arrest but was deferred simply because of the state charge. Once the state charge was dismissed, there was no reason for the federal prosecutor not to proceed. In Hillegas the evidence was not yet available.
The second factor under Barker is the reason for the delay. The Government offers an explanation that is only partly convincing. Neglect seems to have caused some of the early delay, and the negotiations with the Rossis for evidence were quite prolonged. In a joint operation such as this, the Government might be expected to show somewhat more diligence; indeed, because the state dismissal was on speedy trial grounds, the federal prosecutor should have been especially careful to protect against future delay.
*92With respect to the third Barker factor, the Government concedes that defendant timely asserted her speedy trial rights. The fourth Barker factor, however — prejudice to the defendant — is more difficult to pinpoint. Defendant points to some prejudice: her anxiety at trial, especially because of her pregnancy, which she suggests might not have occurred had she known she was going to be charged with federal crimes, and the impairment of her defense caused by the weakened memory of her witness, Lee Swee Lye. The trial judge also relied on the asserted prejudice of her 1974 incarceration and the 1975 death of her father; but in light of my conclusion that only post-1976 delay is cognizable under the Sixth Amendment, I do not consider these events in the determination of the prejudice to defendant.
Balancing these factors, I find it a very close case whether the trial court’s dismissal was proper. Certainly it would not have been error not to dismiss, but we must accord a substantial amount of deference to the court’s decision, especially since the Barker test involves a “vague” right and requires an ad hoc balance, 407 U.S. at 521, 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182. I am troubled, however, because the court’s final dismissal is not supported by careful findings of prejudice and is apparently inconsistent with the judge’s earlier finding that the delay did not cause prejudice.1 Crediting this earlier finding, I conclude that the dismissal is unwarranted; the marginal additional prejudice and delay from the second mistrial seem insufficient to tip the Barker balance in defendant’s favor.

. On July 3, 1978, after the jury in the first trial retired to consider its verdict, the court made the following finding:
I find for the record that everything — I heard all of the evidence. I don’t believe that the delay in prosecution inconvenienced the defendant or led to the loss of any evidence or made it more difficult for the defendant to try the case. I believe that the case was fairly tried.