United States v. John Irvin Pitner

John Pitner was convicted of possession and transfer of a machine gun, 18 U.S.C. § 922 (o), and, at a subsequent retrial, of conspiracy to make, possess, receive and transfer destructive devices, 18 U.S.C. § 371 . He appeals the possession conviction on the ground that the district court erroneously denied his motion to sever his trial from that of his co-defendants. He appeals the conspiracy conviction on the ground that the court continued the retrial beyond the 70-day period allowed in the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3161 . He also appeals the district court’s refusal in the retrial to give several of his proposed jury instructions. We affirm the possession conviction but reverse the conspiracy conviction because we conclude that the retrial violated the Speedy Trial Act.

Factual and Procedural Background

Pitner was a member of a group known as the Washington State Militia. The group held meetings at Pitner’s house, during which they planned how to protect their community in the event of an armed invasion by the United Nations. Pitner trained the militia members to make pipe bombs, and some of the members thereafter made bombs by following Pitner’s…