STIPULUATION AND ORDER TO CONTINUE STATUS CONFERENCE

LAWRENCE K. KARLTON, District Judge.

The government and defendant Rodriguez-Plancarte, through undersigned counsel, stipulate that the change of plea and/or status conference, scheduled for December 3, 2013, shall, with the approval of the Court, be continued to December 17, 2013, at 9:15 a.m. The parties had reached what was believed to be a resolution and a negotiated plea agreement had been prepared. The matter was on calendar November 12, 2013, for a change of plea. However, at the time the matter was called Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte had questions about his plea agreement that could not be answered in court by his defense counsel, but, instead, these questions required additional time to discuss with Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte. Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte does not speak English and requires a Spanish-speaking interpreter so this language aspect complicated matters.

Counsel for Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte has gone to the jail on several occasions to answer questions and go over the terms of the plea agreement. As of the writing of this request, Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte has not agreed to the terms of the plea agreement. Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte requests additional time to consider the ramifications of accepting or rejecting the plea offer. Given the Thanksgiving Holiday, there is insufficient time for Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte to make a final determination regarding acceptance of the plea agreement before December 3, 2013.

Further, defense counsel for Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte has a calendaring conflict for the next two Tuesdays that the Court holds criminal calendar in that: (1) defense counsel is calendared for trial assignment on a civil matter in Sacramento Superior Court on December 3, 2013 at 8:30 a.m.. The Sacramento Superior Court has indicated that this matter is likely to be assigned out on Tuesday December 3, 2013. In addition, counsel for Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte has a trial date in a criminal matter in San Jose, California for December 9, 2013. If the civil case does not get assigned out for trial, the criminal trial will begin. In either event, defense counsel for Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte will not be available either December 3rd or 10th, 2013, for a court hearing in the instant case.

Therefore, counsel stipulate and agree that December 17, 2013 is an appropriate date to hear Mr. Rodriquez-Plancarte's matter and this continuance gives him and his counsel sufficient time to discuss the plea agreement and negotiate any further modifications to the plea agreement that may be necessary.

The parties stipulate and agree that the Court shall find that: (1) 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 and defendant continuity of counsel; and (2) the ends of justice served by the granting of such a continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial. As such, the parties agree that time from the date of this stipulation, November 26, 2013, to and including the December 17, 2013, change of plea/status conference shall be excluded from computation of time within which the trial of this case must be commenced under the Speedy Trial Act for defense counsel's preparation and continuity of defense counsel, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A) and (B)(iv) and Local Code T4.

The parties have authorized the defense counsel for Manuel Rodriquez-Plancarte to sign this stipulation on their behalf.

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 representation of defense counsel and good cause appearing therefrom, the Court hereby finds that the failure to grant a continuance in this case would deny defense counsel reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence and defendant continuity of counsel. The Court finds that the ends of justice to be served by the granting of the requested continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial.

IT IS ORDERED that time beginning from the parties' stipulation on November 26, 2013, up to and including the December 17, 2013, status conference 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 T-4, to allow defense counsel reasonable time to prepare and defendant continuity of counsel.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED the status conference, scheduled for December 3, 2013, is continued to December 17, 2013, at 9:15 a.m.