United States v. Chris Leopaul Karsseboom

Chris Leopaul Karsseboom appeals his conviction on five counts of wire fraud partly on grounds of violation of the Speedy Trial Act. 18 U.S.C. §§ 3161 et seq. We reverse the conviction below and hold that if a trial court dismisses some but not all counts of an indictment, and a defendant is reindicted on the dismissed counts, the retained count and the superseding indictment both inherit the Speedy Trial Act clock applied to the original indictment.

I. Background

On April 15, 1987, a grand jury handed down an eight-count indictment charging Karsseboom with one count of mail fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 (Count One), six counts of wire fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (Counts Two through Seven), and one count of counterfeiting foreign obligations in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 478 (Count Eight).

The court set trial for June 9, 1987, and held a conference that day before calling in a jury pool for impaneling. At this pretrial conference, the court expressed concern about an apparent defect in the indictment: it named no victim. Neither the prosecutor nor defense counsel had made a motion to the court regarding the omission of an alleged victim in the indictment.

The…