In U.S. v. Wilk, No. 05-12694 (June 20, 2006), the Court, on a defendant’s interlocutory appeal which claimed that the government’s notice of intent to seek the death penalty was not given with a "reasonable time before trial," as required by 18 U.S.C. § 3593(a), held that the Death Notice filed six months before the trial was reasonable notice.
The Court noted that, from the start, the parties knew this was a likely death penalty case, and Wilk’s counsel began to prepare a death defense months before the Death Notice was filed. Further, the six month period between the Death Notice and the trial was itself objectively reasonable. The Court noted that the date of trial, for purposes of § 3593(a), is the actual date of the trial, not the originally scheduled date. The Court noted that continuances of trial did not change its analysis. Moreover, six months sufficed for the defense Wilk intended to present at trial.
