United States v. James Ray Shell, A/K/A Kelly Barrick Bonney, A/K/A Chris Raymond Weber

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge.

The government appeals from an order dismissing an indictment charging James Ray Shell with one count of passport falsification, 18 U.S.C. § 1542. The district court held that the indictment was not found within the ten-year limitation period, and that the preindictment delay violated Shell’s Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. Although we do not approve of the government’s failure to investigate actively a defendant’s whereabouts after sealing an indictment, as to this defendant, the mere passage of time was not prejudicial. We reverse.

I

In October 1978,…