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

LAWRENCE K. KARLTON, District Judge.

It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between plaintiff United States of America, on the one hand, and defendants Brandon McMurrian, Joel Murdoch, Kevin Ayler, and Allen Lane, on the other hand, through their respective attorneys, that: (1) the presently set January 22, 2014, status conference hearing shall be continued to March 11, 2014, at 9:15 a.m.; and (2) time from the date of the parties' stipulation, January 17, 2014, through, and including, March 11, 2014, 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. This continuance is requested to allow additional time for both the prosecutor and defense counsel to prepare and is based on the following: (1) the United States has additional discovery comprised of approximately two inches of documents, including documents that would describe information provided by incarcerated prisoners, who are cooperating with the United States and who would testify as prosecution witnesses; (2) the United States desires to produce the discovery (redacted of personal identifying information) and believes that the production of such discovery might help facilitate the settlement of this case; however, the United States is concerned that the production of such discovery would identify the cooperating incarcerated prisoners and endanger the witnesses' safety; (3) the United States desires to produce this additional discovery after the Bureau of Prisons has had an opportunity to assess and determine whether the cooperating prisoners need to be relocated to help ensure their safety and help prevent physical retribution for their cooperation in this case; and (4) after the production of this discovery, defense counsel will need time to review this discovery and discuss the discovery and its ramifications with their respective clients.

Accordingly, the parties stipulate and agree that the Court shall find that: (1) the failure to grant the requested continuance in this case would deny all counsel reasonable time necessary for effective preparation, taking into account the exercise of due diligence; and (2) the ends of justice served by the granting of such a continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendants in a speedy trial.

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 the parties and good cause appearing therefrom, the Court hereby finds that the failure to grant a continuance in this case would deny all counsel 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 the defendants in a speedy trial. It is ordered that time beginning from the parties' stipulation on January 17, 2014, up to and including the March 11, 2014, 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 T4, to allow all counsel reasonable time to prepare.