United States v. Richardson

Decision Date15 May 2012
Docket NumberNo. 11–3127.,11–3127.
Citation109 A.F.T.R.2d 2012,681 F.3d 736
PartiesUNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Homer Lee RICHARDSON, Defendant–Appellant.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

ON BRIEF:Charles E. McFarland, New Castle, Kentucky, for Appellant. Frank P. Cihlar, Gregory Victor Davis, Rita G. Calvin, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellee.

Before: BATCHELDER, Chief Judge, McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge, and QUIST, Senior District Judge.**

OPINION

McKEAGUE, Circuit Judge.

DefendantAppellant Homer Richardson (Richardson) appeals the district court's order denying his motion to dismiss based on the Speedy Trial Act. Richardson claims that the court failed to sufficiently justify its decision to exclude days stemming from six separate continuances from the speedy-trial clock pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A). For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM the district court's order.

I. BACKGROUND

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Richardson promoted fraudulent trust products in connection with his employment at the Aegis Company. He also interfered with Internal Revenue audits, aided in the filing of a false individual income tax return, and signed his own false tax returns.

Richardson, along with his co-defendant in this case, Robert Welti (“Welti”), and four others were previously indicted on April 7, 2005 for various violations of tax law. Richardson was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, aiding and assisting in the filing of a false income tax return, and three counts of filing a false income tax return. Two of Richardson's co-defendants in that case pled guilty, but the district court dismissed the indictment without prejudice as to the other defendants (including Richardson) due to a violation of the Speedy Trial Act.

Richardson and Welti were indicted again on November 6, 2008. Richardson was arraigned on December 1, 2008, and entered a plea of not guilty. During the course of preparing for trial, numerous motions were filed on behalf of Richardson, and the case was continued six times. On June 23, 2010, Richardson filed a motion to dismiss due to a speedy trial violation, which was denied on June 28, 2010. The same day, the district court accepted Richardson's conditional guilty plea under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(a)(2) in which he preserved the right to appeal the court's disposition as to his Speedy Trial Act claim. Richardson conditionally pled guilty to (1) one count of obstructing or impeding the due administration of the IRS in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7212(a); (2) one count of aiding and abetting the filing of a false income tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2); and (3) three counts of filing false income tax returns in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). He was sentenced to 30 months' incarceration, each count to run concurrently, and was allowed to continue his release pending the outcome of his appeal. This timely appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

The Speedy Trial Act of 1974, 18 U.S.C. § 3161, requires that a criminal defendant's trial commence within seventy days after he is charged or makes an initial appearance, whichever is later, and entitles the defendant to dismissal of the charges if that deadline is not met. § 3161(c)(1). But because criminal cases vary widely, and there are valid reasons for delay in some cases, the Act excludes delays due to certain, enumerated events from the seventy-day period. § 3161(h); Zedner v. United States, 547 U.S. 489, 497–98, 126 S.Ct. 1976, 164 L.Ed.2d 749 (2006). As relevant here, it excludes:

Any period of delay resulting from a continuance granted by any judge on his own motion or at the request of the defendant or his counsel or at the request of the attorney for the Government, if the judge granted such continuance on the basis of his findings that the ends of justice served by taking such action outweigh the best interest of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial.

§ 3161(h)(7)(A). When granting such an ends-of-justice continuance, a district court should weigh factors such as whether a miscarriage of justice could result, the complexity of the case and time needed for preparation, and the continuity of counsel. § 3161(h)(7)(B).

But the Act also warns that a delay resulting from an ends-of-justice continuance will not be excludable from the seventy-day period “unless the court sets forth, in the record of the case, either orally or in writing, its reasons for finding that the ends of justice served by the granting of such continuance outweigh the best interestsof the public and the defendant in a speedy trial.” § 3161(h)(7)(A). It is upon this provision that Richardson relies.

Richardson argues that the district court did not properly form and articulate its reasons for excluding six continuances from the speedy-trial clock in the interests of justice. In Zedner v. United States, 547 U.S. at 506–508, 126 S.Ct. 1976, the Supreme Court considered the statutory requirement that district courts place the reasoning behind ends-of-justice continuances on the record. The Court noted that

[a]lthough the Act is clear that the findings must be made, if only in the judge's mind, before granting the continuance (the continuance can only be “granted ... on the basis of [the court's] findings”), the Act is ambiguous on precisely when those findings must be “se[t] forth, in the record of the case.” However this ambiguity is resolved, at the very least the Act implies that those findings must be put on the record by the time a district court rules on a defendant's motion to dismiss.

Id. at 506–507, 126 S.Ct. 1976. The court expressed that the best practice would be “for a district court to put its findings on the record at or near the time when it grants the continuance.” Id. at 507 n. 7, 126 S.Ct. 1976. The Court held that, “without on-the-record findings, there can be no exclusion [pursuant to section 3161(h)(7)(A) ].” Id. at 507, 126 S.Ct. 1976. The district court in Zedner had not made any on-the-record findings at the time it granted the continuance, and so the Court held that the district court's later “passing reference to the case's complexity” when it denied the defendant's motion to dismiss would not suffice. Id. Richardson correctly asserts that Zedner underscores the statutory requirement that district courts make on-the-record findings to justify the decision to grant ends-of-justice continuances. However, for the reasons that follow, the district court in this case fulfilled that requirement.

A district court's legal interpretation of the Speedy Trial Act is subject to de novo review. See, e.g., United States v. Robinson, 887 F.2d 651, 656 (6th Cir.1989). However, whether the district court has properly determined if certain days should be included or excluded from the trial clock is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Howard, 218 F.3d 556, 563 (6th Cir.2000); see also United States v. Tinson, 23 F.3d 1010, 1012 (6th Cir.1994). Richardson argues that the district court improperly excluded days from the speedy-trial clock stemming from six continuances. We consider each continuance in turn.

A. Ends–of–Justice Continuances

“To conduct a proper ends-of-justice analysis when granting a continuance, a district court must state in the record, either orally or in writing, its reasons for determining that granting the continuance outweighs the public's and the defendant's interest in a speedy trial, based on the factors set forth in (h)(7)(B).” United States v. Stone, 461 Fed.Appx. 461, 464 (6th Cir.2012) (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A)). “The court does not have to give its reasons contemporaneously with the grant of the continuance; it need only give the reasons no later than the ruling on the defendant's motion to dismiss on Speedy Trial Act grounds.” Id. (citing United States v. Crawford, 982 F.2d 199, 204 (6th Cir.1993)); see also Zedner, 547 U.S. at 507 n. 7, 126 S.Ct. 1976 (considering a contemporaneous statement to be “best practices”). In reviewing each continuance, we consider whether (1) the district court abused its discretion in finding that the continuance should be excluded; and (2) the district court properly placed its reasoning on the record. We find no abuse of discretion.

1. The January 7, 2009 Continuance

The trial was initially set for January 12, 2009. On December 17, 2008, Richardson, who was proceeding pro se at the time, moved for a continuance of the trial date. On December 31, 2008, Richardson asked to be represented by counsel, and the court made arrangements to appoint an attorney Richardson had chosen. The court suggested a trial date of March 30, 2009, and Richardson's newly appointed counsel indicated that he could be prepared by then. At the close of the conference, the court noted that the continuance was in the interest of justice for both Richardson and co-defendant Welti, stating “I will designate the period between now and the current trial date of March 30th as a period of delay that is in the interest of justice, and that the continuance outweighs the best interest of the public and the two defendants in this case in a speedy trial.” (Page ID # 1768.) The court also noted that the documents were voluminous, but many of them were the same as the evidence produced in the first indictment. Richardson responded that his counsel needed time to review the documents. On January 7, 2009, the court entered an order stating that the delay was in the interests of justice because the defendants needed time to review the substantial evidence in the case.

“Defense counsel's need for additional time to prepare an unusually complex case is an appropriate reason for granting a continuance.” Stone, 461 Fed.Appx. at 464–65. Therefore, there is no abuse of discretion in subtracting this continuance from the speedy-trial clock. Furthermore, the court put its specific reasoning—that the defense needed time to...

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