U.S. v. Yunis, No. 82-5907

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit)
• Writing for the Court: Before GODBOLD, Chief Judge, RONEY and TJOFLAT; RONEY
• Citation: 723 F.2d 795
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Hernando YUNIS, Defendant-Appellant. Non-Argument Calendar.
• Docket Number: No. 82-5907
• Decision Date: 23 January 1984

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723 F.2d 795 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Hernando YUNIS, Defendant-Appellant. No. 82-5907
Non-Argument Calendar. United States Court of Appeals,
Eleventh Circuit. Jan. 23, 1984.

Entin, Schwartz, Dion & Sclafani, Ronald A. Dion, North Miami Beach, Fla., for defendant-appellant.

Stanley Marcus, U.S. Atty., Nancy L. Worthington, James G. McAdams, III, Asst. U.S. Attys., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before GODBOLD, Chief Judge, RONEY and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges.

RONEY, Circuit Judge:

The question in this case is whether a defendant who has knowingly and voluntarily entered a guilty plea may appeal the district court's earlier refusal to dismiss the

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indictment on the ground that he was denied the right to a speedy trial in violation of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C.A. Secs. 3161-3174. Holding that defendant's speedy trial claim was waived by the guilty plea, we affirm.

Hernando Yunis was indicted February 5, 1982 on two counts of conspiracy and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. After numerous pretrial motions in the case, on May 26, 1982 Yunis sought to dismiss the indictment for unnecessary delay. The court denied the motion to dismiss. Pursuant to a plea bargain, Count II of the indictment was dropped, and Yunis pled guilty to Count I.

A defendant's plea of guilty, made knowingly, voluntarily, and with the benefit of competent counsel, waives all nonjurisdictional defects in that defendant's court proceedings. Ferguson v. United States, 699 F.2d 1071, 1073 (11th Cir.1983); United States v. Sepe, 474 F.2d 784, 787 (5th Cir.1973); Fowler v. United States, 391 F.2d 276, 277 (5th Cir.1968). The right to a speedy trial has repeatedly been held to be nonjurisdictional, both before and after the passage of the Speedy Trial Act. See United States v. Jackson, 659 F.2d 73, 73-74 (5th Cir. Unit B 1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1003, 102 S.Ct. 1637, 71 L.Ed.2d 870 (1982); United States v. Broussard, 645 F.2d 504, 505 (5th Cir.1981); Fowler v. United States, 391 F.2d 276, 277 (5th Cir.1968). Yunis's guilty plea therefore foreclosed his right to assert the nonjurisdictional issue of the denial of a speedy trial on this appeal. A defendant cannot plead guilty and preserve for appeal a speedy trial claim.

In order to forestall any suggestion that Yunis's plea might have been conditioned on the right to appeal his speedy trial claim, a position that would be untenable for any guilty plea after this decision, we note that no violation of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C.A. Secs. 3161-3174, occurred in this case.

Section 3161(c) of the Act provides essentially a seventy-day period within which a defendant must be tried.

In any case in which a plea of not guilty is entered, the trial of a defendant charged in an information or indictment with the commission of an offense shall commence within seventy days from the filing date (and making public) of the information or indictment, or from the date the defendant has appeared before a judicial officer of the court in which such charge is pending, whichever date last occurs....

18 U.S.C.A. Sec. 3161(c). Since the Act applies...