Order Continuing Trial and PTM Deadline

JAMES L. ROBART, District Judge.

Order

Luis Quinones Ceja moves the Court to continue the current trial date of 9/11/17 and the PTM deadline of 7/28/17. Mr. Quinones is charged in Counts 1, 22, 23, 31, 32, 33, and 34 of the 7/6/17 Second Superseding Indictment. If convicted of all charges, he faces a mandatory term of 10 years on the drug charges, and a consecutive 5 years on one of the firearm charges, for a total of 15 years. Mr. Quinones Ceja was arrested in this case in early June 2017 in Texas. He made his first appearance in this Court on July 7, 2017.

The discovery in this case is immense, totaling roughly 100 disks (250 GB) and thousands of pages of material. This material includes surveillance, wiretap phone calls, recordings, etc. Much of this material is subject to a protective order, meaning it cannot be left with the defendant and must be reviewed by him only in the presence of his attorney. In addition, much of the discovery is in Spanish and requires additional time for translation and/or review of translated material. Mr. Ceja has executed a speedy trial waiver through May 2018.

The Court finds the reasons cited in Mr. Quinones Ceja's motion to be over should after persuasive and partially and GRANTS the for motion. Based on the undisputed facts set forth in the motion, which are hereby incorporated by reference and adopted as findings, the Court finds:

1. The ends of justice served by granting this continuance outweigh the best interests of the public and the defendant in a speedy trial.

2. Proceeding to trial absent adequate time for the defense to prepare would result in a miscarriage of justice.

3. The defense needs some after additional time to review the evidence which is sizeable and will take considerable time to review.

4. All of these findings are made within the meaning of 18 USC 3161(h)(7)(A) and (B)(i), (ii) and (iv).

Taking into account the exercise of due diligence, a continuance is necessary to allow the defendant the reasonable time to meet the above objectives. Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the trial date is continued to Sept. 28, 2017 and that the pretrial motions deadline shall be Sept. 1, 2017.. The resulting period of delay from the date of this motion until the new trial date is excluded for speedy trial purposes under 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(A).

IT IS SO ORDERED.