United States v. Rojas-Contreras

• Decision Date: 16 December 1985
• Docket Number: ROJAS-CONTRERAS,No. 84-1023,84-1023
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Petitioner v. Fernando
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

474 U.S. 231

106 S.Ct. 555

88 L.Ed.2d 537

UNITED STATES, Petitioner

v Fernando ROJAS-CONTRERAS.

No. 84-1023.

Argued Oct. 9, 1985.

Decided Dec. 16, 1985.

Syllabus

Respondent was indicted by a federal grand jury on February 18, 1983, for felony illegal entry into the United States and reentry by a deported alien, he having been previously convicted for illegal entry "on or about December 17, 1981." Appearing through counsel on February 18, 1983, respondent was arraigned, and the trial was set for April 19, 1983. When it was noticed that the date of the previous conviction was actually December 7, 1981, the grand jury, on April 15, 1983, returned a superseding indictment identical to the original except that it corrected the date of the previous conviction. Respondent then moved for a 30-day continuance of the trial, contending that 18 U.S.C. § 3161(c)(2)—which provides that a trial shall not commence less than 30 days "from the date on which the defendant first appears through counsel"—required a new 30-day trial preparation period following the return of the superseding indictment. The District Court denied the motion, and respondent was convicted. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that respondent was entitled to the new 30-day trial preparation period.

Held: The Speedy Trial Act, of which § 3161(c)(2) is a part, does not require that the 30-day preparation period be restarted upon the filing of a superseding indictment. Pp. 234-237.

(a) That this was Congress' intention is evident from the unambiguous language of § 3161(c)(2) that clearly fixes the beginning point for the trial preparation period as the first appearance through counsel, and does not refer to the date of the indictment, much less the date of any superseding indictment. This conclusion is further supported by the language of § 3161(c)(1), which establishes the outside time limit within which a trial must commence and explicitly refers to the date of indictment as one of the relevant dates for determining that time limit. Pp. 234-235.

(b) The requirements of § 3161(c)(2) were met here, where the time between the date of respondent's first appearance through counsel and the date of the trial afforded a trial preparation period twice as long as the minimum required by § 3161(c)(2). P. 236.

(c) Respondent was clearly not prejudiced by the return of the superseding indictment, which did nothing except correct the date of the previous conviction. P. 236-237.

730 F.2d 771 (CA6 1984), reversed.

BURGER, C.J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which WHITE, MARSHALL, POWELL, REHNQUIST, STEVENS, and O'CONNOR, JJ., joined. BLACKMUN, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which BRENNAN, J., joined, post, p. 237.

Patty Merkamp Stemler, Washington, D.C., for petitioner.

Judy Clare Clarke, San Diego, Cal., for respondent.

Chief Justice BURGER delivered the opinion of the Court.

We granted certiorari to resolve a conflict in the Circuits ¹ as to whether (a) the Speedy Trial Act of 1974, 18 U.S.C. § 3161 et seq., as amended, prohibits commencement of a trial less than 30 days after arraignment on a superseding indictment; and (b) assuming a violation of the Speedy Trial Act in this case, was that error harmless?

I

On December 7, 1981, respondent, who is not a citizen of the United States, was convicted of illegal entry into this country and was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. After serving his sentence, respondent returned to Mexico.

Again, on February 13, 1983, he entered the United States illegally and was apprehended by United States Border Patrol agents. On February 18, 1983, a federal grand jury sitting in the Southern District of California returned a two-count indictment charging respondent with felony illegal entry under 8 U.S.C. § 1325 and with reentry by a deported alien under 8 U.S.C. § 1326. The indictment stated that the judgment of conviction for the prior illegal entry, which formed the predicate for the enhancement of the § 1325 offense to a felony, was "rendered on or about December 17, 1981." The date of the previous conviction was actually December 7, 1981. On February 18, 1983, respondent, appearing through counsel, was arraigned on the indictment. Trial was set for April 19, 1983.

On March 21, 1983, the Government informed respondent of the correct date of the previous conviction, and on April 15, 1983, the grand jury returned a superseding indictment which was identical with the original indictment in all respects except that it stated that the date of the previous conviction was "on or about December 7, 1981." ² Respondent was arraigned on the superseding indictment on April 18, 1983.

Later that day at a pretrial conference, respondent's counsel moved for a 30-day continuance of the trial scheduled to begin the next day contending that the Speedy Trial Act, as construed by the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Arkus, 675 F.2d 245 (CA9 1982), required that a new 30-day trial preparation period be granted following the return of a superseding indictment.³ The District Court denied respondent's motion for a 30-day continuance, citing the Seventh Circuit's decision in United States v. Horton, 676 F.2d 1165 (CA7 1982), and distinguishing Arkus. Respondent was convicted of felony illegal entry into the United States.

The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that under its decision in United States v. Harris, 724 F.2d 1452 (CA9 1984), which in turn relied on its decision in Arkus, respondent was entitled to a new 30-day trial preparation period following his arraignment on the superseding indictment. Citing its decision in United States v. Daly, 716 F.2d 1499 (CA9 1983), the Court of Appeals held that reversal of respondent's conviction was required to remedy the Speedy Trial Act violation because "any pretrial preparation period shorter than thirty days is inadequate per se. No showing of prejudice is required."

We granted certiorari, 469 U.S. 1207, 105 S.Ct. 1167, 84 L.Ed.2d 319 (1985). We reverse.

II

Our starting point, of course, is the language of the statute. The Speedy Trial Act of 1974, as amended in 1979, 18 U.S.C. § 3161 et seq., establishes inside and outside time limits for commencing trial in criminal cases. Section 3161(c)(2), the provision at issue in this case, provides:

"Unless the defendant consents in writing to the contrary, the trial shall not commence less than thirty days from the date on which the defendant first appears through counsel or expressly waives counsel and elects to proceed pro se" (emphasis added).

The statute clearly fixes the beginning point for the trial preparation period as the first appearance through counsel. It does not refer to the date of the indictment, much less to the date of any superseding indictment. Given this unambiguous language, we have no choice but to conclude that Congress did not intend that the 30-day trial preparation period begin to run from the date of filing of a superseding indictment.

That conclusion finds additional support in the language of § 3161(c)(1). That section establishes the outside time limit within which trial must commence under the Act and explicitly refers to the date of the indictment as one of the relevant dates for determining that time limit:

"[T]he 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" (emphasis added).

It is clear that Congress knew how to provide for the computation of time periods under the Act relative to the date of an indictment. Had Congress intended that the 30-day trial preparation period of § 3161(c)(2) commence or recommence on such a date, it would have so provided.

Because the language of § 3161(c)(2) is a clear expression of congressional intent, we need not resort to the legislative history of that section. We note, however, that the legislative history is wholly consistent with our reading of that section. The 30-day trial preparation period was not included in the original Speedy Trial Act as it was enacted in 1975 but was incorporated into the Act with the 1979 amendments to the Act. Speedy Trial Act Amendments Act of 1979, Pub.L. 96-43, 93 Stat. 327. The legislative history of the 1979 revisions suggests that the source of the 30-day trial preparation period was a set of Guidelines issued by the Judicial Council of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. See Hearings on S. 961 and S. 1028 before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 96th Cong., 1st Sess., 122, 386-436 (1979). The Guidelines were issued to assist the trial judges sitting in the Second Circuit in interpreting the provisions of the Act. Id., at 386. These Guidelines provided that "whenever the time between arraignment and the scheduled trial date does not exceed thirty (30) days the Court shall . . . view a request for an adjournment of trial to a date beyond thirty (30) days but within the sixty (60) day limit, liberally. . . ." Id., at 392-393. The Guidelines also stated that, in the situation where a superseding indictment adds new charges, trial of the original charges must begin "within the time limit for commencement of trial on the original indictment or information." Id., at 417. Taking these two statements from the Guidelines together, it appears that, although the Second Circuit was clearly concerned that a defendant be given a pretrial preparation period of at least 30 days, the filing of a superseding indictment was not enough by itself to require the restarting of that 30-day period.

Applying § 3161(c)(2) to the facts of this case, we conclude that the requirements of that section were met here. The record reflects that respondent's first appearance through...