United States v. Nathan J. Warren, Jr.

The United States (plaintiff-appellant) appeals from a dismissal of an indictment against Nathan Warren, Jr., and thirteen codefendants (defendants-appellees). The district court dismissed the indictment pursuant to local practice rule 11(g) of the United States District Court, District of Arizona. On appeal, the sole issue is whether the court erred m dismissing the indictment under the authority of local rule 11(g). This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731 and 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 , 1294. We affirm.

I. FACTS

On November 16, 1977, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against the named codefendants. The indictment charged interstate transportation of stolen property and mail fraud, violations of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2314 & 2 and 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341 & 2, respectively.

The final day to respond to all motions was October 30, 1978. Appellant failed to meet this deadline; over forty motions were left unanswered. Of greater importance, they failed to respond to any of the motions to dismiss the indictment. Thereafter, a motion for summary dismissal of the indictment pursuant to rule 11(g) of the district court was filed. The rule provides that a failure to respond to a…