First Circuit Notes Split Re Excludability of Plea Negotiations Time Period under Speedy Trial Act

Per U.S. v. Huete-Sandoval, --- F.3d ----, 2011 WL 6823186 (1st Cir. Dec. 29, 2011):

[W]e conclude that the sixteen days between July 22 and August 7, 2009, were not excludable pursuant to the STA and in light of prior circuit precedent.^FN8

FN8. We note that other circuits are divided as to whether plea negotiations are automatically excludable from the Speedy Trial Act calculation as “other proceedings” pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1). Compare United States v. Leftenant, 341 F.3d 338, 344–45 (4th Cir.2003) (holding that plea negotiations trigger automatic exclusion pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)); United States v. Van Someren, 118 F.3d 1214, 1218–19 (8th Cir.1997) (same); United States v. Montoya, 827 F.2d 143, 150 (7th Cir.1987) (same); United States v. Bowers, 834 F.2d 607, 610 (6th Cir.1987) (same), with United States v. Alvarez–Perez, 629 F.3d 1053, 1058 (9th Cir.2010) (holding that plea negotiations do not trigger automatic exclusion pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)); United States v. Lucky, 569 F.3d 101, 107 (2d Cir.2009) (same). We need not and do not reach that issue here. To the extent the parties entered plea negotiations between July 16 and July 22, the total number of days excluded would be insufficient to avoid a violation of the Speedy Trial Act.