STIPULATION AND ORDER

TROY L. NUNLEY, District Judge.

It is hereby stipulated and agreed-to by the United States of America through HEIKO COPPOLA, Assistant United States Attorney, and defendant ILIE ZDRAGAT, by and through his attorney, KENNY N. GIFFARD, that the status conference set for Thursday, December 18, 2014, be continued to a status conference on Thursday, March 26, 2015, at 9:30 a.m.

This continuance is being requested because defense counsel needs time to prepare for trial, to review discovery, and to interview witnesses. The discovery already presented to the defendant in this case is voluminous and comprises numerous CD's which need to be translated from Russian to English, and hundreds of pages of investigative reports.

Most recently, the government has provided this defendant with a number of CD's and partially translated recordings of purported contacts between the defendant and others wherein activity related to the charged offenses was then occurring. These CD's consist of hours of conversations and are the translator's interpretation of what is transpiring and some verbatim translations of what is said between the defendant, the confidential informant, and others. These CD's are presently being translated in toto.

Furthermore, the parties stipulate and agree that the interests of justice served by granting this continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial. (18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(A)).

Speedy trial time is to be excluded from the date of this order through the date of the status conference set for March 26, 2015, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(B)(iv) (reasonable time to prepare) (Local Code T4).

ORDER

Based upon the stipulation of the parties and good cause there 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. The Court specifically finds that the ends of justice served by the granting of such continuance outweigh the interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial. Based upon these findings and pursuant to the stipulation of the parties, the Court hereby adopts the stipulation of the parties in its entirety as its order. Time is excluded from computation of time within which the trial of this matter must be commenced beginning from the date of the stipulation through and including March 26, 2015, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A) and (B)(iv) (reasonable time for defense counsel to prepare and Local Code T4.) A new status conference date is hereby set for March 26, 2015, at 9:30 a.m.