U.S. v. Gunter

Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to dismiss his indictment on drug conspiracy charge, even though defendant maintained that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to speedy trial where he experienced 23-month delay between his arrest and trial date. While defendant conceded that many of said delays were caused by him or his co-defendant, defendant argued that last four-month delay prior to his trial, which was caused by death of co-defendant’s counsel, denied him his speedy trial rights, where Dist. Ct. denied his motion to sever his trial from co-defendant’s trial, so as to allow defendant to proceed to trial without experiencing last delay. Dist. Ct. could properly deny motion to dismiss, where: (1) basis of defendant’s motion to sever was not on speedy trial grounds, but was on claim that co-defendant had made confession that implicated defendant in instant drug conspiracy charge; and (2) government had previously resolved issue by redacting defendant’s identity from co-defendant’s confession. As such, defendant had failed to properly raise speedy trial issue in Dist. Ct. Moreover, defendant failed to show existence of any prejudice arising out of instant delay in bringing his case to trial.