United States v. Anthony M. Carlone, Avie Cohen and Leonard Bednarz

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

This appeal by the government from an order dismissing an indictment raises a question of first impression under the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3161 et seq., relating to the power of a district judge to vacate a continuance retroactively to the date when he granted it.

The indictment, filed on August 7, 1980, alleged that the defendants had violated a number of federal criminal statutes through a scheme devised and carried out in 1975. They shipped worthless goods from Illinois to Denmark, where the goods were stored in a warehouse owned by the city of Copenhagen.…