Opinion
CR22-101 JHC
01-30-2023
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff v. JUAN E. HERNANDEZ-HERNANDEZ and ALEJANDRO MACIAS-VELAZQUEZ, Defendant.
YUNAH CHUNG Assistant United States Attorney
YUNAH CHUNG Assistant United States Attorney
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO WITHDRAW GUILTY PLEA
John H. Chun United States District Judge
THIS MATTER having come before the Court on a motion by defendant Juan E. Hernandez-Hernandez to withdraw his guilty plea, and the Court having considered the facts set forth in the motion and the records and files herein, the Court FINDS as follows:
1. On August 31, 2022, the Court continued trial on this matter to January 17, 2023.
2. On December 13, 2022, the Court continued trial to June 26, 2023, at 1:30 pm, as to defendant Alejandro Macias-Velazquez, upon factual findings establishing the need for a continuance.
3. On December 30, 2022, Hernandez-Hernandez appeared before Magistrate Judge Michelle L. Peterson and entered a plea of guilty as to Count 1 of the
Indictment, Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance, under his Plea Agreement.
4. Judge Peterson recommended that Hernandez-Hernandez be adjudged guilty subject to the Court's consideration of the Plea Agreement.
5. On January 19, 2023, before this Court accepted his guilty plea, Hernandez-Hernandez filed a motion to withdraw his plea.
6. A defendant has the absolute right to withdraw his guilty plea before it is accepted by the district court. United States v. Alvarez-Tautimez, 160 F.3d 573, 576 (9th Cir. 1998).
7. In a multi-defendant case, a reasonable trial continuance as to any defendant tolls the Speedy Trial Act period as to all joined co-defendants. See 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(6) (“A reasonable period of delay [is excluded] when the defendant is joined for trial with a codefendant as to whom the time for trial has not run and no motion for severance has been granted.”); United States v. Messer, 197 F.3d 330, 337 (9th Cir. 1999) (“It is well established that an exclusion from the Speedy Trial clock for one defendant applies to all co-defendants.”).
8. Macias-Velazquez and Hernandez-Hernandez are joined in the indictment and no motion to sever has been made or granted.
9. This Court having continued Macias-Velazquez's trial to June 26, 2023, Hernandez-Hernandez shall be tried together with Macias-Velazquez on that date.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea is GRANTED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that trial for Hernandez-Hernandez and Macias-Velazquez is set for June 26, 2023, at 1:30 pm. Pretrial motions are due May 18, 2023.