United States v. Craig E. Caldwell

In United States v. Akmakjian, 647 F.2d 12, 14 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 964 , 102 S.Ct. 505 , 70 L.Ed.2d 380 (1981), we held that the five-year statute of limitations codified at 18 U.S.C. § 3282 was not jurisdictional and could be waived by a defendant. We are now called upon to decide whether a written agreement providing for an indefinite extension of the limitation period is valid and enforceable. The district court, after noting that such open-ended waivers undermine the policy concerns which animate the statute of limitations, held that such waivers could only be upheld if the government could justify their use by demonstrating extraordinary circumstances. Finding no extraordinary circumstances in this case, the district court granted defendant Craig Caldwell’s motion to dismiss the indictment against him as time-barred, notwithstanding that the open-ended waiver was executed by Caldwell through his attorney. Because we find no basis for distinguishing between limited-term and open-ended waivers, we reverse the district court’s dismissal of the indictment.

The district court, in requiring the government to demonstrate extraordinary circumstances to justify the…