United States v. Jack Andrew Bryan

Bryan was convicted of having offered to bribe a Customs Inspector of the United States, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201 (b). Urging reversal, Bryan presents five contentions in this court.

The first argument is that the trial judge erred in denying a motion for continuance, presented by Bryan on June 3, 1975. Bryan was arraigned on April 4, 1975 and was represented by counsel at the time. On April 28, 1975, the date of the trial was fixed for May 27, 1975. Thereafter, the trial date was continued for one week, and on June 3d, there occurred the denial of the motion that is here challenged. From these facts, including the rather extensive period of time that had elapsed between the time of Bryan’s arraignment and the court’s refusal again to continue the time for trial, we conclude that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion. On the contrary, it appears that, in respect to the time of trial, Bryan was treated with the utmost fairness. Cf. United States v. Harris, 501 F.2d 1 (9th Cir. 1974). There, we held that a district judge did not abuse his discretion in denying a motion for continuance, and as we compare the cases, it appears that there would have been more…