US v. Myrick: Myrick fled from a traffic stop, eventually crashing into a tree before running away. In the car, officers found drugs and guns. They tracked down Myrick (via DMV paperwork in the car) and arrested him. Initially, Myrick was charged only with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, but a superseding indictment returned four months later added charges related to the firearms and cocaine. On the day of trial, Myrick filed a pro se motion arguing that his Speedy Trial Act rights had been violated. The district court denied the motion, concluding that sufficient time had been excluded from STA calculations to render the trial timely. Following Myrick’s conviction, his (new) counsel filed a renewed STA motion, arguing that the 16 days between the conclusion of a pretrial motions hearing and the district court’s written ruling on the motion to suppress should not be excluded from the STA calculations. The district court denied the motion and sentenced Myrick to 270 months, the bottom of the calculated Guideline range.
On appeal the Fourth Circuit affirmed Myrick’s convictions and sentence. The primary argument involved the STA issue which, as the court pointed out, involved only the original methamphetamine charge, not the two later charges in the superseding indictment (for which trial was timely whatever was excluded from the STA calculations). The court rejected Myrick’s argument that the 16 days between suppression hearing and written opinion shouldn’t be excluded because the district court had actually denied the motion to suppress at the hearing itself. Myrick pointed to the district court taking note of a pair of “exceptions” by defense counsel related to particular issues at the hearing, but the court concluded those were not the same as a ruling on the motion to suppress itself, which only came in the written opinion. Therefore, the 16-day gap should be excluded.
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