III. Dismissals Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48

• Library: The Rights of the Accused under the Sixth Amendment (ABA) (2016 Ed.)

III. Dismissals Pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48 A. History of Rule

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48 was adopted in 1944, predating Barker v. Wingo and the Speedy Trial Act by almost thirty years.⁸⁷When adopted, Rule 48(a) required the government to receive leave of court before the dismissal of a criminal charge and prohibited the government from dismissing the prosecution during the trial without the defendant's consent.⁸⁸ Rule 48(b) applied to delays in the prosecution of a defendant.

B. Dismissal under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 48(b)

The language of Rule 48(b),⁸⁹ as well as the Supreme Court's comment on the rule in Marion, establishes that the rule is applicable only to postarrest situations.⁹⁰ The purpose of Rule 48(b) is to enforce the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.⁹¹ Rule 48(b) lost much of its utility after the Supreme Court decided Barker and once the Speedy Trial Act became fully effective in 1980.⁹² Most of the cases decided under this rule predate the Speedy Trial Act.⁹³

After the Barker decision and the implementation of the Speedy Trial Act, one appellate court decided that if the district court found that a defendant's speedy trial right was not violated by the delay between indictment and trial, then the district court need not review a motion for dismissal under Rule 48(b) for unnecessary delay.⁹⁴ If Rule 48(b) is relied upon to dismiss an indictment for unnecessary delay, but that delay does not amount to a...