United States v. Steven D. Lefler

FACTS

Defendant was charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1512 with having intimidated a witness on January 13, 1987. He was found to be indigent. The Federal Public Defender was appointed to represent him; the cost of his witnesses was reimbursed by the government under 28 U.S.C. § 1825 ; and his own transportation expenses to attend the trial (defendant having been granted pre-trial release) were paid by the government under 18 U.S.C. § 4285 . After a verdict of guilty on a lesser included charge of harassment of a witness under 18 U.S.C. § 1512 (c), on October 23, 1987, defendant’s sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation. No appeal was taken from the judgment of conviction and sentence.

Thereafter, on November 9, 1987, the government moved to tax the costs of prosecution against defendant in the sum of $7,361.43, under 28 U.S.C. § 1821 . To be able to attend the hearing on that motion, defendant moved for transportation pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3604 . Since, defendant claims, the latter motion was not ruled on early enough to be of any use, he paid his own way from Petersburg, Alaska, to Anchorage, the seat of the district court. The distance is approximately 700 miles.…