STIPULATION AND ORDER CONTINUING STATUS CONFERENCE, AND EXCLUDING TIME UNDER THE SPEEDY TRIAL ACT

GARLAND E. BURRELL, Jr., Senior District Judge.

It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between plaintiff United States of America, on the one hand, and defendant Victor Manuel Alvarez-Contreras, on the other hand, through their respective attorneys, that:

(1) the presently set June 16, 2017, status conference shall be continued to June 23, 2017, at 9:00 a.m.;

(2) time from the date of the parties' stipulation, June 16, 2017, though, and including, the new status conference date of June 23, 2017, shall be excluded from computation of time within which the trial of this matter must be commenced under the Speedy Trial Act, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A) and (B)(iv) and Local Code T4, for the reasons set forth below.

Defense counsel, Michael Jason Lawley, Esq., desires additional time to discuss with his client, defendant Alvarez-Contreras, the ramifications of resolving this case by plea agreement the United States recently tendered to Mr. Lawley versus the risks of proceeding to trial and the consequences in the event that defendant is convicted after trial. This task is made more difficult because defendant Alvarez-Contreras's primary language is Spanish and a Spanish/English language interpreter will be needed to translate the plea agreement and related documents to him.

The parties stipulate and agree that the Court shall find that the failure to grant the requested continuance in this case would deny defense counsel reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence.

Consequently, the parties also stipulate and agree that the Court find the ends of justice served by the granting of such a continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and defendant in a speedy trial and respectfully request that the Court exclude time between the date of their stipulation, June 15, 2017, and the new status conference date of June 23, 2017, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A) and (B)(iv) and Local Code T4.

ORDER

The Court, having received, read, and considered the stipulation of the parties, and good cause appearing therefrom, adopts the stipulation of the parties in its entirety as its order.

Based on the representations of both counsel and good cause appearing therefrom, the Court hereby finds that the failure to grant a continuance in this case for the time period referenced in their stipulation would deny counsel for defendant Victor Manuel Alvarez-Contreras reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence. The Court finds that the ends of justice to be served by granting a continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and defendant in a speedy trial. It is ORDERED that time beginning from the date of the parties' stipulation on June 15, 2017, up to, and including, the June 23, 2017, new status conference date shall be excluded from computation of time within which the trial of this matter must be commenced under the Speedy Trial Act pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A) and (B)(iv) and Local Code T4, to allow defense counsel for Alvarez-Contreras reasonable time to prepare.

It is further ORDERED that the presently set June 16, 2017, status conference shall be continued to June 23, 2017, at 9:00 a.m.