Thomas T. Cohen v. United States

Appellant was indicted on February 27, 1963 in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona (No. C-16545) on twelve counts of mail fraud, and one count of using a fictitious name to defraud ( 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 ,1342).

On July 28,1964, an order (erroneously stamped “Filed, July 28, 1965”) was made in the said court in which the following findings were made:

Subsequently, a new and similar indictment was filed in the same court (No. C-16986) in twelve counts, alleging the same offenses. One count was later dismissed and defendant was ultimately convicted on eleven counts.

A timely motion to dismiss the second indictment with prejudice was made by appellant on the ground that previous dismissal was a bar to the prosecution of the second indictment. In ruling on this, a second judge sitting in the District Court of Arizona, after reciting the history of the matter and the contentions of the parties, ordered as follows:

I.

The foregoing factual situation presents the first of appellant’s two claims of error — that it was error to fail to deny the motion to dismiss the second Arizona indictment, after the first had been dismissed for lack of a speedy…