U.S. v. Hanhardt

• Decision Date: 20 August 2001
• Docket Number: No. 00-CR-0853.,00-CR-0853.
• Citation: 156 F.Supp.2d 988
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. William A. HANHARDT; Joseph N. Basinski; Paul J. Schiro, Sam Destefano, Guy Altobello and William R. Brown, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

156 F.Supp.2d 988

UNITED STATES of America v. William A. HANHARDT; Joseph N. Basinski; Paul J. Schiro, Sam Destefano, Guy Altobello and William R. Brown, Defendants.

No. 00-CR-0853.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

August 20, 2001.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Thomas P. Sullivan, Jenner & Block, Chicago, IL, Thomas Day Decker, Thomas D. Decker & Associates, Ltd., Chicago, IL, for defendant.

John J. Scully, John F. Podliska, U.S. Atty's Office, Chicago, IL, for U.S.

OPINION AND ORDER

NORGLE, District Judge.

Before the court is the motion of Defendant Joseph Basinski to continue the September 4, 2001 trial date, set by order of May 18, 2001. For the following reasons, the motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

This case arises out of an alleged organized crime conspiracy to commit jewelry thefts. Currently at issue is Basinski's motion to continue the trial. Defendant William Hanhardt filed a motion to continue the trial, to which Basinski and each of the Co-Defendants joined, and raised individual arguments to continue.¹ On July 26, 2001, the court issued an opinion denying Hanhardt's motion. See United States v. Hanhardt, 155 F.Supp.2d 861 (N.D.Ill. 2001). Since then, the court has denied the motions of Co-Defendants Paul Shiro, Sam DeStefano, and Guy Altobello to continue the trial date. In ruling on those motions, the court adopted and incorporated by reference its opinion denying Hanhardt's motion to continue. The court writes separately on Basinski's motion to reiterate important issues concerning criminal defendants in pre-trial detention and the public interest in speedy trials.² In doing so, there is a fair amount of overlap and repetition from the court's opinion of July 26, 2001, but a full discussion of all issues is salubrious. A discussion of the procedural background of the case is necessary to place the issues in context.

The original indictment was returned on October 19, 2000. (R. 1.) The indictment contained two counts stemming from the alleged jewelry theft conspiracy. Basinski was arraigned, and entered a plea of not guilty. (See R. 12.)

The court conducted a status hearing on October 26, 2000, and ordered a discovery conference to be held within ten days pursuant to Local Criminal Rule 16.1. (See R. 32.) The court also set a schedule for pretrial motions, with Defendants' pretrial motions due within 21 days, the Government's response due 14 days thereafter, and Defendants' replies due 7 days thereafter. (See id.) The court then set a jury trial for January 22, 2001. (Id.)

Beginning in late October 2000, and continuing into December 2000, the Government provided copies of discovery materials to Defendants consisting of approximately 21,000 pages of documents. These documents included: (1) applications for and extensions of Title III wire intercepts and pen register i.d. devices, the affidavits submitted in support of the Title III orders, and the Title III orders themselves; (2) transcripts of the wire intercepts; and (3) F.B.I. 302 materials.³

On November 1, 2000, the assigned magistrate judge denied the Government's motion for pre-trial detention of Basinski. (R. 40.) The Government appealed to the district court on November 3, 2000. (R. 41.) This court held a hearing on the issue of Basinski's detention, and on November 9, 2000, granted the Government's motion to revoke the magistrate judge's order of release as to Basinski. (R. 50.) The detention hearing included evidence of Basinski's late night visit to the home of a potential Government witness, which led to charges of retaliating against the witness and obstruction of justice. See United States v. Basinski, 226 F.3d 829, 832-33 (7th Cir.2000). Basinski has remained in custody since November 9, 2000.

On November 15, 2000, all Defendants filed an emergency joint motion to extend time in which to file pretrial motions, and to continue the January 22, 2001 trial date. (R. 61.) Defendants asked for pretrial motions to be due September 17, 2001, and for an unspecified trial date thereafter. (Id.) The court held a hearing the following day, November 16, 2000. The court and counsel discussed the extent of the documents turned over by the Government and the amount of time defense counsel needed to review that material. (See R. 88-3, Tr. of Nov. 16, 2000, pp. 5-25.) The court noted that it should not force the case to trial too early, and that it was clear that the original trial date of January 22, 2001 was too early a date. (See id. at 22-23.) The court rejected the suggested date for pre-trial motions, September 17, 2001, but struck the scheduled trial date, granted Defendants until January 19, 2001 to file their pretrial motions, and kept January 22, 2001 as a status hearing date. (See id. at 22-25.)

At the same hearing on November 16th, the Government indicated that it was going to bring a superseding indictment. The following exchange took place concerning the superseding indictment:

MR. SCULLY [Assistant United States Attorney]: Just one other matter your Honor.

There is going to be a minor— there is going to be a superseding indictment, just to correct two errors in the indictment. One has to deal with a reference back to a wrong paragraph, and the other was some language that kind of dangled on at the end of a paragraph.

THE COURT: Well, it will require re-arraignment.

MR. SCULLY: It doesn't substantively change, but it might well — it might well require arraignment.

(R. 88-3, Tr. of Nov. 16, 2000, pg. 27.) The Government filed the superseding indictment on November 16, 2000. (R. 56.)

On November 17, 2000, Basinski filed a notice of appeal concerning the revocation of his order of release, asking the Seventh Circuit to order his release pending trial. The Seventh Circuit later denied his motion.

On November 29, 2000, the court re-arraigned Defendants on the superseding indictment. (See R. 66 & 67.) Defendants waived their rights to be present for re-arraignment. (See id.).

In December 2000, new attorneys filed appearances for both Basinski and Hanhardt. Basinski retained Jeffrey Cole and Andrew Staes, whom the court allowed to replace Basinski's appointed counsel, John Theis.⁴ Mr. Cole, at one point, had been in the case, but then withdrew, and the court allowed him to reenter the case. Hanhardt retained Thomas Sullivan, the former United States Attorney and a partner at a large law firm.⁵ The court allowed Hanhardt's previously retained counsel, Thomas Decker, to withdraw.

On January 10, 2001, Defendants brought two more motions. The first was a motion to recuse (R. 90), to which the court ordered briefing. The second was a motion was to extend the time in which to file pretrial motions. (See R. 89.) Defendants asserted that they needed additional time to review discovery materials and prepare their pre-trial motions, and asked that pre-trial motions be due no earlier than May 18, 2001. (See id.) The court ruled on this motion from the bench, granting Defendants until March 1, 2001 to file routine pre-trial motions, and until May 18, 2001 to file complex pre-trial motions. (See R. 91.) The court also set briefing schedules for any pre-trial motions filed on these dates. (See id.)

On March 1, 2001, Defendants filed a motion for additional discovery from the Government, seeking further information to use in preparing anticipated motions to suppress evidence obtained from the Title III intercepts. (See R. 116.)

On March 14, 2001, the court denied Defendants' motion to recuse. See United States v. Hanhardt, 134 F.Supp.2d 972, 975-77 (N.D.Ill.2001).

On March 20, 2001, the court granted Basinski's motion for a modification of his detention to attend the funeral of a family member on March 21st. Basinski was released to the custody of his counsel, who ensured that Basinski attended the funeral and returned to the MCC⁶ pursuant to the court's order.

On April 20, 2001, Hanhardt filed a petition for mandamus in the Seventh Circuit, asking the Seventh Circuit to order this court's recusal. (See Seventh Cir. Docket in 01-1977.) Three days later, on April 23, 2001, Basinski filed a similar petition for mandamus. (See Seventh Cir. Docket in 01-1999.)

On May 7, 2001, the court held a status hearing, where Hanhardt requested an additional extension of time in which to file complex pre-trial motions. (See Tr. of May 7, 2001, pp. 9-12.) Hanhardt asked that he have until June 29, 2001 to file complex pre-trial motions because of the amount of discovery that the Government had produced. (See id.) After Hanhardt's Co-Defendants joined in the motion for additional time, the court stated:

THE COURT: I'm going to grant the motion in part but deny it in part.

We will continue the date from May 18th to June 1st, which is two additional weeks. And on a very strong showing the Court might grant yet another extension from June 1st, but it will not be enough to say that "There is so much material that we can't quite analyze it all and deal with it in order to meet these deadlines."

(Id. at pg. 12.) The court then advised the parties that it anticipated the case going to trial in the fall of 2001:

THE COURT: ....

And if at all possible, on June 1st or close to June 1st the Court will attempt to set a trial date in this case, and I think the objective should be early fall.

So, counsel, when you are preparing your schedules otherwise, keep that in mind.

(Id.) At that time, Hanhardt's counsel informed the court that he was counsel in a civil arbitration that was scheduled to proceed on September 17, 2001:

MR. SULLIVAN [Hanhardt's counsel]: Your Honor, I want to reiterate what Mr. Podliska said to you, and that is that on September 17th I am to begin a trial before Judge— or, Frank McGarr as an arbitrator that's been set for a long time, and that's a firm commitment that I have.

THE COURT: Well, things change from time to time.

MR. SULLIVAN: They do. They do. I will keep you advised if it changes.

THE...