Opinion
CASE NO. 1:11-cr-00188 LJO
08-04-2011
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. GONZALO ESQUIVEL, AKA "GUNNER," KENNETH HERNANDEZ, AKA "KENNY," EFREN STEVE JIMINEZ, AKA "GRANDE," AND GUSTAVO MORENO, AKA "GUS GUS," Defendants.
BENJAMIN B. WAGNER United States Attorney KIMBERLY A. SANCHEZ Assistant U.S. Attorney STEVEN B. PLESSER Attorney for Gonzalo Esquivel KYLE KNAPP Attorney for Kenneth Hernandez DAVID D. FISCHER Attorney for Gustavo Moreno ROBERT CASSIO Attorney for David Torres
BENJAMIN B. WAGNER
United States Attorney
KIMBERLY A. SANCHEZ
Assistant U.S. Attorney
STIPULATION AND ORDER FOR CONTINUANCE
CONTINUED TO 10/7/2011
AT: 10:30AM (REVISED BY COURT)
IT IS HEREBY STIPULATED by and between Benjamin B. Wagner, United States Attorney and Kimberly A. Sanchez, Assistant U.S. Attorney and Steven B. Plesser, attorney for defendant Esquivel, Kyle Knapp, attorney for defendant Hernandez, Kelly Babineau, attorney for defendant Jiminez, David Fischer, attorney for defendant Moreno, and Robert Cassio, attorney for defendant Torres to move for the status conference currently set for August 5, 2011 to be continued to October 7, 2011 at 10:30 a.m.
Counsel have conferred, and counsel for defendants believe that additional time beyond August 5, 2011 will be necessary to review discovery and conduct preliminary investigation. The government has provided a significant number of investigation reports and various other discovery, such as photographs. The government will be providing wiretap affidavits and associated documents for nine (9) different applications, audio and data from each of the court-authorized wiretaps that the government had anticipated disseminating much earlier. However, such discovery was subject to state court sealing orders. The Merced County District Attorney's Office provided the government with a stipulation for undersigned counsel and defense counsel to sign in order to receive authorization from the state court judge for release of the discovery materials. The government circulated the document and did not have all signatures of defense counsel until on or about July 18, 2011 at which time the government sent the document to the District Attorney's Office. On August 2, 2011, the government received a court order authorizing release of the referenced discovery pursuant to a protective order. As such, the discovery will be disseminated within the next two days. Additionally, counsel have coordinated their schedules, and all counsel agree that October 7, 2011 is a date upon which all counsel are available.
Counsel agree that the time between the signing of the requested order and October 7, 2011 will be excluded from the speedy trial calculation pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3161(h)(7)(A) and (B) in that the defendants' and the public's interest in a speedy trial are outweighed by the interests of justice in permitting counsel adequate time to review the voluminous discovery and conduct preliminary investigation in order to determine whether they would like to request the Court to set a motion schedule or some additional proceeding and for continuity of counsel such that all defendants' counsel may appear. Moreover, the parties previously agreed that due to the nature of the prosecution and the amount of discovery resulting from the investigation involving multiple wiretaps, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3161(h)(7)(B), the case is complex.
Respectfully submitted,
BENJAMIN B. WAGNER
United States Attorney
KIMBERLY A. SANCHEZ
Assistant U.S. Attorney
STEVEN B. PLESSER
Attorney for Gonzalo Esquivel
KYLE KNAPP
Attorney for Kenneth Hernandez
DAVID D. FISCHER
Attorney for Gustavo Moreno
ROBERT CASSIO
Attorney for David Torres
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Lawrence J. O'Neill
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE