People v. Fossey

199 N.W.2d 849, 41 Mich. App. 174, 1972 Mich. App. LEXIS 1300
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 30, 1972
DocketDocket 11442
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 199 N.W.2d 849 (People v. Fossey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Fossey, 199 N.W.2d 849, 41 Mich. App. 174, 1972 Mich. App. LEXIS 1300 (Mich. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

T. M. Burns, P. J.

The defendant was tried and convicted by a jury of assault with intent to rob while armed (MCLA 750.89; MSA 28.284). and attempted safe robbery (MCLA 750.531; MSA 28.799). He appeals as of right from the imposition of a sentence of life on each count.

On October 23, 1969, a night watchman was assaulted and the Hartford Farm Supply vault was the scene of an attempted safe breaking. Following an investigation, a warrant was issued charging the defendant with assault with intent to rob while armed. Shortly thereafter, a second warrant was issued against the defendant charging him with attempted safe burglary. These warrants were given to the State Police and detainers were placed on the NCIC Lien Network. In December of 1969, the State Police were notified that the de *177 fendant had been arrested in Bay Minette, Alabama, for switching registration plates on a car and carrying a concealed weapon. The State Police conveyed this information to the prosecutor who then sent the warrants to the Bay Minette sheriff. Apparently, before these warrants reached the sheriff, the defendant was released on a writ of habeas corpus. The defendant was then rearrested by an Alabama US marshal for violation of the Dyer Act. When the Bay Minette sheriff received the warrants, he returned them to the prosecutor indicating that the defendant had been released from his custody and was now in the custody of the Alabama US marshal. The prosecutor then sent the warrants to the Alabama US marshal, but the defendant had posted bail and was released from the custody of the Alabama US marshal before the warrants reached him. Forty days after that, the defendant was arrested for parole violation in Florida. However, by this time the warrants had been returned by the US marshal in Alabama to the prosecutor. The prosecutor then mailed the warrants to the US marshal in Florida. However, before the warrants got to the US marshal there, the defendant was transferred from the custody of the Florida US marshal to the Alabama US marshal. The Florida US marshal returned the warrants to the prosecutor indicating the above-mentioned transfer. The prosecutor then sent the warrants to the US marshal in Alabama. Before the warrants got to the US marshal in Alabama, the defendant was transferred to the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia. The US marshal in Alabama again returned the warrants to the prosecutor indicating this transfer. Finally on March 17, 1970, a detainer was sent to the place where the defendant was incarcerated — Atlanta, Georgia. The prosecutor then contacted the officials of the *178 Federal Penitentiary by telephone in hopes of determining how to get the defendant back to Michigan to stand trial. The prosecutor had previously studied the- United States Code Annotated and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure in hopes of determining how to accomplish this but had not gotten too far. On July 16, 1970, the defendant sent a letter to the prosecutor demanding a speedy trial. This letter was received by the prosecutor in due course of the mail. Meanwhile, a spokesman at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta indicated to the prosecutor that Indiana was considering extraditing the defendant for trial and that it would be less expensive to the prosecutor if the defendant was brought to trial in Michigan from Indiana than if he were brought to trial in Michigan from Georgia. Therefore, the prosecutor chose to wait and see what Indiana was going to do. The penitentiary officials had expressed some reticence in letting the defendant go due to the fact that his term of incarceration was not to expire until October of 1970. At the same time, the prosecutor contacted the prosecutor in Berrien County who also had outstanding warrants against the defendant, and they agreed to split the costs of bringing the defendant to Michigan. In late October of 1970, the prosecutor received information from the penitentiary officials that Indiana was not going to extradite the defendant there. Shortly thereafter, the prosecutor received a consent to move the defendant — this consent coming from the United States Bureau of Prisons on October 23, 1970. Shortly thereafter, the defendant was transferred from Atlanta, Georgia to Michigan to stand trial for the charges outlined above. This release was accomplished by obtaining a writ releasing the defendant from the custody of the Federal authorities and by paying all the expenses, approximately *179 $800, in advance for shipment of the defendant to Michigan. On November 23, 1970, a preliminary examination was held at which time the defendant was bound over for circuit court trial. That trial was held on January 27 through 29, 1971.

We will discuss defendant’s issues in the order presented.

1. Was defendant denied his Sixth Amendment rights of speedy trial by the prosecution’s failure to apply and comply with the appropriate Federal and state statutes regarding the right to a trial within a specMed number of days?

Appellate counsel for defendant first contends that but for the ignorance of the trial court, the prosecutor, and defendant’s trial counsel, the appropriate laws available would have been utilized to secure for defendant a speedy trial and that the failure to do so constitutes a denial of defendant’s constitutional rights. None of the "appropriate laws” cited by appellate counsel are applicable to the instant case.

Defendant first contends that the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, MCLA 780.601; MSA 4.147(1), could have been utilized by the prosecutor in securing the release of the defendant and the transportation of him to Michigan to stand trial. However, as the prosecutor points out, the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act, § 8, 84 Stat 1397-1403 (1970), 18 USCA Appendix (1972 Cum Supp pp 80-85) provides: "This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after the date of its enactment [December 9, 1970]”. It is, therefore, readily apparent that the United States government, which had custody of defendant, was not a party to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers until over four months after defendant had already been brought back to Michigan to stand trial. It was, *180 therefore, impossible for the people to utilize the cited act to effect an earlier return of the defendant.

Defendant next-points to 62 Stat 850 (1948), 18 USCA 4085, which would have provided a means for the prosecutor to bring the defendant to Michigan from the Federal Penitentiary in Georgia. However, that statute applies only once a "federal prisoner has been indicted, informed against, or convicted of a felony in a court of record of any state”. In the instant case the prosecutor was in possession only of warrants which were issued by a district court judge. Since MCLA 600.8101; MSA 27A.8101 provides that " * * * the district court is not a court of record”, 18 USCA 4085 would not apply.

Next defendant contends that MCLA 780.131; MSA 28.969(1) should have been utilized. That statute provides in part:

"Whenever the department of corrections shall receive notice that there is pending in this state any untried warrant, indictment, information or complaint setting forth against any inmate of a penal institution

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Related

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344 N.W.2d 34 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1983)
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307 N.W.2d 723 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1981)
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260 N.W.2d 121 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1977)
Edmond v. Department of Corrections
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239 N.W.2d 653 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1976)
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232 N.W.2d 727 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1975)
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People v. Anderson
205 N.W.2d 461 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1973)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
199 N.W.2d 849, 41 Mich. App. 174, 1972 Mich. App. LEXIS 1300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-fossey-michctapp-1972.