Opinion
HEATHER E. WILLIAMS, Bar #122664 Federal Defender, TIMOTHY ZINDEL, Bar #158377 Assistant Federal Defender, MICHAEL McCOY, Assistant U.S. Attorney. Sacramento, California, Attorney for Defendant, GREGORY THOMAS PHELAN.
STIPULATION AND ORDER TO EXTEND TIME FOR PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION AND EXCLUDE TIME
DALE A. DROZD, Magistrate Judge.
It is hereby stipulated and agreed between defendant, Gregory Phelan, and plaintiff, United States of America, by and through their attorneys, that the preliminary hearing set for June 11, 2013, may be continued to July 11, 2013, at 2:00 p.m.
Mr. Phelan was charged in a criminal complaint filed March 13, 2013. After a hearing on March 21, 2013, the Court ordered him released pending trial and, at the parties' request, continued the preliminary hearing. Since then, the parties have agreed to further continuances of the preliminary hearing because of the likelihood they will agree to resolve the pending charges without need of a formal indictment. The parties' discussions are ongoing and they seek additional time to complete them. Accordingly, the parties ask the Court to continue the preliminary hearing to July 11, 2013, at 2:00 p.m., pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 5.1. The parties agree that the progress they have made towards pre-indictment resolution constitutes good cause for the continuance.
In light of the parties' ongoing discussions, the parties also ask the Court to find that the interests of justice to be served by this continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and Mr. Phelan in a speedy trial and to exclude under the Speedy Trial Act the period of delay from May 14 through July 11, 2013, see 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A) and (B)(iv), to afford both parties reasonable time to prepare.
ORDER
The preliminary hearing is continued to July 11, 2013, at 2:00 p.m., before Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan the Court finding good cause. The Court also finds that the interests of justice to be served by this continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and Mr. Phelan in a speedy trial and therefore excludes from calculation under the Speedy Trial Act the period of delay from the date of this order through July 11, 2013, see 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A) and (B)(iv).
IT IS SO ORDERED.