Carlton v. State

563 S.E.2d 521, 254 Ga. App. 653, 2002 Fulton County D. Rep. 1210, 2002 Ga. App. LEXIS 440
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 29, 2002
DocketA01A2268
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 563 S.E.2d 521 (Carlton v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carlton v. State, 563 S.E.2d 521, 254 Ga. App. 653, 2002 Fulton County D. Rep. 1210, 2002 Ga. App. LEXIS 440 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

Barnes, Judge.

Thomas Carlton, a federal prisoner, filed a pro se motion under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (“IAD”) to dismiss “all actions, indictments, informations, and complaints” against him after Walker County lodged a detainer against him with the Federal Bureau of Prisons based on a warrant for his arrest.

The record contains an arrest warrant, based upon an affidavit [654]*654and signed by a magistrate, for violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act for possession of methamphetamine. The warrant was forwarded to the original federal correctional facility having custody of Carlton by letter from the Walker County Sheriffs Office and signed by the warrant officer. After reciting information about Carlton, the letter stated:

Enclosed is a certified copy on an arrest warrant on file at the WALKER COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT, LAFAYETTE, GA. Please accept this letter and copy of the warrant as a detainer on the above named subject. Please advise when this subject is ready to be released from your facility. We will pick up subject.

In response to the detainer letter, Carlton made a request for final disposition of the “indictments, informations, or complaints” now pending against him. A federal correctional official forwarded Carlton’s demand by letter to the district attorney, sent certified mail. The copy of the letter in the record shows it was sent to the clerk of the superior court, and the first page of the letter shows it was filed on October 6, 1998.

When Carlton’s request for disposition of the charges was not acted upon in the time required, he moved for dismissal of the charges under the IAD. No response to this motion is in the record on appeal. Nevertheless, the trial court denied the motion to dismiss solely because the IAD “does not apply to cases only in the warrant stage, but requires a formal charging instrument, i.e., indictment or its equivalent.” According to the record on appeal, no issue concerning service of Carlton’s request for disposition was raised below or ruled on by the trial court. After his motion for an out-of-time appeal was granted, Carlton filed this appeal.

Because a detainer based on a warrant for pending criminal charges triggers the protections of the IAD, we reverse. Further, because our opinion in Newt v. State, 190 Ga. App. 301 (379 SE2d 11) (1989), conflicts with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the IAD Act in Suggs v. Hopper, 234 Ga. 242, 243 (215 SE2d 246) (1975), that the IAD does not apply to post-conviction arrest warrants for probation violations, we must overrule Newt.

1. Procedurally, no issue regarding the service of Carlton’s IAD request is properly before us. No issue was raised or ruled on in the trial court about the method Carlton used to forward his request for disposition of the charges against him, and the State’s brief on appeal does not even mention the possibility of this issue. Instead, the trial court denied Carlton’s motion to dismiss only because it found that the IAD did not apply to cases at the warrant stage. When this case [655]*655is returned upon remittitur, the State may raise any appropriate procedural defenses at that time. We should not rule on this issue now because it has not been addressed by the parties or ruled on by the trial court.

2. The IAD “creates uniform procedures for lodging and executing a detainer, i.e., a legal order that requires a State in which an individual is currently imprisoned to hold that individual when he has finished serving his sentence so that he may be tried by a different State for a different crime.” Alabama v. Bozeman, 533 U. S. 146, 148 (121 SC 2079, 150 LE2d 188) (2001).

Because outstanding charges against a prisoner “produce uncertainties which obstruct programs of prisoner treatment and rehabilitation,” the purpose of the IAD is “to encourage the expeditious and orderly disposition of such charges and determination of the proper status of any and all detainers based on untried indictments, infor-mations or complaints. . . .” OCGA § 42-6-20 (Art. I).1 Further, it “shall be liberally construed so as to effectuate its purposes.” OCGA § 42-6-20 (Art. IX).

If the prisoner fulfills the notice requirements of the IAD, and the receiving state fails to bring the prisoner to trial within 180 days, the court in the receiving state must dismiss the “indictment, information or complaint on the basis of which a detainer has been lodged against the prisoner.” OCGA § 42-6-20 (Art. Ill (a), (d)).

In this case, the issue is whether a detainer based on an arrest warrant for a violation of the Georgia Controlled Substances Act constitutes a detainer that invokes the provisions of the IAD.

In United States v. Ford, 550 F2d 732 (2nd Cir. 1977), federal prosecutors lodged a warrant for bank robbery with state authorities as a detainer against the defendant and then sought to compel his presence with a writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum. The court noted that warrants were “commonly used as detainers,” and that the government conceded that the defendant was subject to a detainer. Id. at 736, n. 5.

In considering the Second Circuit’s holding, the U. S. Supreme Court subsequently noted that “[t]he Agreement itself contains no definition of the word ‘detainer.’ The House and Senate Reports, however, explain that ‘(a) detainer is a notification filed with the institution in which a prisoner is serving a sentence, advising that he is [656]*656wanted to face pending criminal charges in another jurisdiction.’ [Cits.]” United States v. Mauro, 436 U. S. 340, 359 (IV) (B) (98 SC 1834, 56 LE2d 329) (1978).2 “Once the Federal Government lodges a detainer against a prisoner with state prison officials, the Agreement by its express terms becomes applicable and the United States must comply with its provisions.” Id. at 361-362 (V).

Further, the drafters of the IAD intended “detainers” to include warrants. The Ohio Court of Appeals, in holding that a faxed letter accompanied by complaints and arrest warrants constituted a detainer, noted that, “The council on state governments, which drafted the IAD, defined a ‘detainer’ as a ‘warrant filed against a person already in custody with the purpose of insuring that he will be available to the authority which has placed the detainer.’ ” State v. Wells, 94 Ohio App.3d 48, 53 (640 NE2d 217) (1994).

In this case, Walker County used an arrest warrant to lodge a detainer against Carlton, notifying the Federal Bureau of Prisons that Carlton is wanted to face pending criminal charges in Walker County. A sheriff swore under oath that Carlton committed a criminal offense by violating the Georgia Controlled Substances Act, and a magistrate then issued a warrant commanding the arrest of Carlton. The warrant specified that Carlton was “charged by the prosecutor” with the offense against the laws of this State as set out in the sheriff’s affidavit. (Emphasis supplied.)

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Related

Billy Denson v. State
Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2012
Denson v. State
731 S.E.2d 130 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2012)
Carlton v. State
588 S.E.2d 334 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2003)
State v. Carlton
583 S.E.2d 1 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2003)
Thomas v. State
583 S.E.2d 848 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
563 S.E.2d 521, 254 Ga. App. 653, 2002 Fulton County D. Rep. 1210, 2002 Ga. App. LEXIS 440, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carlton-v-state-gactapp-2002.