In mid-April, Judge Kenneth Hoyt (S.D. Texas) granted post-trial motions by Ramon Alexandro Rovirosa Martinez and ordered that he be released from prison. (See here).
Shortly thereafter, on May 8th, the DOJ filed a notice of appeal in the Fifth Circuit. (See here).
Earlier this summer, the DOJ requested a 30-day extension of time in which to file its opening brief stating that the “the Office of the Solicitor General has not yet determined whether or on what grounds to allow a government appeal to proceed in this case.”
The DOJ is still unsure of an actual appeal.
Yesterday, the DOJ filed a request for an additional extension of time in which to file an opening brief. The filing states:
“By law, the Solicitor General must authorize any appeal of the district court’s post-trial order. 28 C.F.R. § 0.20(b). In this case, the Office of the Solicitor General has not yet determined whether and on what grounds to allow a government appeal to proceed. Additional time is needed for that Office to make its determination.”
Counsel for Rovirosa did not object to the DOJ’s first request for extension, but has objected to the DOJ’s latest request.
Rovirosa’s filing states:
“The government’s internal delay is not good cause, and four months is ample time to obtain authorization and prepare a brief in a criminal appeal. A second extension would only prolong the uncertainty hanging over an acquitted man’s liberty, and it should be denied. […] Each additional month of delay perpetuates the very cloud over Rovirosa’s liberty that the judgment of acquittal was meant to dispel. The Court should not countenance that fundamental unfairness.”
