U.S. v. Oberoi

• Decision Date: 23 October 2008
• Docket Number: Docket No. 04-4545-cr.
• Citation: 547 F.3d 436
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Tejbir S. OBEROI, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

547 F.3d 436

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Tejbir S. OBEROI, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 04-4545-cr.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Submitted: April 22, 2008.

Decided: October 23, 2008.

Tejbir Oberoi, pro se.

Stephan J. Baczynski, Assistant United States Attorney (Terrance P. Flynn, United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, on the brief), for Appellee.

Before: JACOBS, Chief Judge, KEARSE, KATZMANN, Circuit Judges.

DENNIS JACOBS, Chief Judge:

Defendant-appellant Tejbir Oberoi appeals on speedy trial grounds the judgment of conviction entered against him on two offenses following a guilty plea in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York (Arcara, J.). The filing of the felony complaint, on October 14, 1999, was followed by unusually event-filled pretrial proceedings, including three interlocutory appeals, hearings concerning bail (26 days), competency proceedings, and several switches of defense counsel before Oberoi elected to represent himself. Trial began on January 12, 2004. Two days later, Oberoi pled guilty.

On appeal, Oberoi (who continues pro se) alleges two violations of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3161-3174:(1) pre-indictment delay exceeding 30 days, and (2) pretrial delay exceeding 70 days. While this appeal was pending, the Supreme Court decided Zedner v. United States, 547 U.S. 489, 126 S.Ct. 1976, 164 L.Ed.2d 749 (2006), which emphasized that the Speedy Trial Act serves the public's interest in efficient justice, and is not solely for the protection of the defendant or the mutual convenience of the defendant and prosecution. Zedner, 547 U.S. at 501-02, 126 S.Ct. 1976. Zedner teaches that formal and transparent procedural measures must be taken with regard to every delay that is not automatic under the statute. Id. at 506-07, 126 S.Ct. 1976. Oberoi cites several formal deficiencies in how the district court and magistrate judges considered and announced delays in his case. Having considered these deficiencies, we conclude that both the pre-indictment and pretrial delay were nonetheless permissible under the Speedy Trial Act.

Oberoi also challenges his plea as less than a knowing and voluntary waiver of his right to trial, contending that the district court's refusal to appoint new defense counsel on the eve of trial coerced him into pleading guilty. We reject that claim.

The judgment of conviction is affirmed.

BACKGROUND

Oberoi, a dentist in Buffalo, New York, defrauded insurance companies and employer dental plans by making false reimbursement claims for procedures he never performed. On October 14, 1999, the government filed a complaint charging Oberoi with mail fraud, 18 U.S.C. § 1341, and health care fraud, id. § 1347. On December 16, 1999, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Oberoi with 34 counts of mail fraud, and 123 counts of making false statements in connection with health care benefits, id. § 1035(a)(2).

Procedural History

Oberoi was represented by seven defense attorneys, in succession and sometimes in tandem, before he eventually elected to represent himself. The changes in counsel led to three interlocutory appeals: two brought by Oberoi (challenging the district court's grant of defense counsel's withdrawal motion) and one brought by the Federal Defender (challenging the district court's denial of its withdrawal motion).

On June 10, 2003—a week before the trial was set to begin—Oberoi wrote to the district court seeking the discharge of his then-court appointed counsel, John Molloy, based on Molloy's repeated refusal to file a motion to dismiss on Speedy Trial Act grounds. At a conference on the eve of trial, Oberoi told the court that Molloy was unprepared for trial and had failed to provide adequate representation in the bail proceedings. The district court gave Oberoi the option of proceeding with Molloy as his counsel or appearing pro se, and warned Oberoi about the risks of appearing pro se.

On the morning of trial, Oberoi advised the district court that he would proceed without a lawyer. After further cautioning Oberoi about the risks of self-representation, the district court found that Oberoi waived his right to counsel knowingly and voluntarily and directed Molloy to appear as stand-by counsel. During a subsequent recess in the proceedings, Oberoi complained of chest pains and was taken to the hospital. The district court dismissed 76 potential jurors and adjourned the trial to June 17, 2003.

On June 17, the district court again impaneled potential jurors, and Oberoi again complained of chest pains. The district court dismissed 82 potential jurors and ordered that Oberoi be examined for physical capacity to stand trial.

The physician's report stated that there was no physiological basis for Oberoi's complaints, but noted that Oberoi was unable to discuss his problems rationally. At a status conference on July 10, 2003, the district court found that Oberoi was physically fit to stand trial. However, in light of the notation about Oberoi's irrationality, the district court committed Oberoi for a psychiatric evaluation. The court assigned Molloy to represent Oberoi in the competency proceedings.

The psychologist reported that he was unable to reach a conclusion as to Oberoi's competency to stand trial, opining that Oberoi suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a consequence of his arrest and incarceration. At a subsequent status conference (on September 23, 2003), the government and Molloy agreed that a second opinion was warranted in view of the inconclusive report. The second doctor (this one a psychiatrist) diagnosed chronic adjustment disorder, and concluded that Oberoi was competent to stand trial.

On November 14, 2003, the district court ruled that Oberoi was mentally competent to stand trial. The court relieved Molloy as counsel and reassigned him as Oberoi's stand-by counsel for trial, which was then scheduled to begin on January 6, 2004.

While the competency proceedings were pending, Oberoi moved pro se to dismiss the indictment for violations of two Speedy Trial Act requirements: that an indictment be filed within 30 days of an arrest, and that trial begin within 70 days of an indictment. The district court denied the motion on December 11, 2003. United States v. Oberoi, 295 F.Supp.2d 286 (W.D.N.Y.2003). The detailed opinion analyzed each challenged time period "with a running tally as to the number of non-excluded speedy trial days at the end of each period." Id. at 291. The district court concluded that Oberoi had waived his challenge to the government's pre-indictment delay. Oberoi's defense counsel "twice requested that the filing of the indictment be delayed so that he could conduct pre-indictment discovery and discuss with the government a possible plea disposition." Id. at 307. The district court reasoned that Oberoi "requested the continuances, and the resulting delay did not subvert the ends of justice," and so Oberoi was "precluded under the exception to the non-waiver rule from now asserting a Speedy Trial Act violation for the period of the continuances." Id.

As to the post-indictment period, the district court concluded that much of the delay was subject to the self-executing provisions of the Speedy Trial Act, see 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1), and that much of the rest was (as we discuss more fully below) attributable to the preparation of defense motions and had been excluded properly by the magistrate judge as "delay resulting from any pretrial motion." 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(F). In total, the district court counted no more than 20 days elapsed on Oberoi's speedy trial clock. Oberoi, 295 F.Supp.2d at 306.

The Trial and Guilty Plea

The parties appeared for trial on January 12, 2004. After a day of jury selection, Oberoi advised the district court that he had decided to plead guilty. He explained that he was "positive, 110 percent positive" that the prosecution would be dismissed due to pre-indictment delay. After a lengthy colloquy, the district court determined that Oberoi's decision to plead guilty was made without coercion.

Oberoi entered a plea agreement with the government. In exchange for his plea to one count of mail fraud and one count of making a false statement in connection with a healthcare matter, the government agreed to dismiss the remaining 155 counts in the indictment. Oberoi reserved the right to appeal on Speedy Trial grounds. On January 15, 2004, Oberoi pled guilty pursuant to the agreement. The district court found Oberoi competent and capable of entering an informed plea, and that his plea was knowing, voluntary and supported by the facts.

Oberoi was sentenced principally to 63 months of imprisonment and three years of supervised release. He was released from prison on February 12, 2008. In this Court, Oberoi filed more than a dozen motions (seeking stand-by counsel, bail pending appeal, and extensions of time, among other forms of relief), and numerous motions for reconsideration, which delayed the assignment of his appeal to a panel for nearly four years.

DISCUSSION

The Speedy Trial Act mandates the "dismissal of charges against a defendant who is not indicted, arraigned, or brought to trial within periods of time set forth in the statute." United States v. Gaskin, 364 F.3d 438, 451 (2d Cir.2004). No more than 30 days can pass between arrest and indictment, and no more than 70 days between indictment and the start of trial—except that the Act contemplates the exclusion of certain periods of delay (described below) from the calculation. See 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b) and (d)(2). This appeal presents several questions about those statutory exclusions, as applied to both pre-indictment and pretrial delay.

"We review the district court's findings of fact as they pertain to a speedy trial challenge for clear error and its legal conclusions de novo." Id. at 450.

I

Oberoi was arrested on a felony complaint on ...