People v. Reilly

136 A.D.2d 355, 527 N.Y.S.2d 234, 1988 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3747
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedApril 4, 1988
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 136 A.D.2d 355 (People v. Reilly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Reilly, 136 A.D.2d 355, 527 N.Y.S.2d 234, 1988 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3747 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

[357]*357OPINION OF THE COURT

Bracken, J. P.

The defendant contends that the judgment convicting him of murder in the second degree must be reversed, and the indictment dismissed, because the prosecution violated certain provisions of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (hereinafter the IAD), codified in New York as CPL 580.20. We conclude that the prosecution violated neither the language nor the spirit of that compact and that the defendant’s principal argument on this appeal is therefore unfounded. We also determine that the remaining arguments advanced by the defendant are either not properly before this court or wholly without substance and that accordingly the judgment appealed from should be affirmed.

I

In June 1984, a Kings County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging the defendant with the crime of murder in the second degree. It was alleged that on December 1, 1980, in the County of Kings, the defendant intentionally murdered the victim, Raul Varela. That the evidence presented by the prosecution at trial was legally sufficient to prove this charge is beyond dispute.

By notice of motion dated January 7, 1985, the defendant sought a pretrial order dismissing the indictment on the ground that the prosecution had failed to comply with various provisions of the IAD (CPL 580.20). This motion was supported by an affidavit of the defendant’s attorney. Based upon a review of that affidavit and of the affirmation in opposition submitted by an Assistant District Attorney, the following facts may be considered to be undisputed.

Prior to his indictment in this case, the defendant had been arrested by Federal officers and delivered by them to the Metropolitan Correctional Center on West Street in New York County, where he was to be held in connection with pending Federal criminal charges. On July 2, 1984, shortly after his indictment in this case, the defendant was sentenced in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, to concurrent terms of 4 and 10 years’ imprisonment in connection with the Federal charges. The Federal commitment order indicates that the District Court recommended that the sentence imposed be concurrent with whatever sen[358]*358tence was to be imposed in connection with the pending State murder prosecution.

On July 3, 1984, the day following defendant’s sentencing in Federal court, detectives from Kings County allegedly "lodged” an arrest warrant with representatives of the United States Marshal in the Eastern District of New York at the Marshal’s office in Brooklyn, New York.

On July 10, 1984, the Supreme Court, Kings County, issued an order addressed to the Superintendent of the Metropolitan Correctional Center, commanding him to produce the defendant at Part 50 of the Criminal Term of the Supreme Court, to be held at the Kings County Courthouse on July 12, 1984, for the purpose of "arraignment and/or trial”. This order was presented at the office of the United States Marshal in Brooklyn.

On July 12, 1984, the defendant was escorted by New York City detectives from the Metropolitan Correctional Center, and apparently was transported to the office of the United States Marshal in Brooklyn. Other detectives then escorted the defendant from the detention area of the United States Marshal’s office to the Supreme Court, Kings County. The defendant was returned to the United States Marshal immediately after his arraignment on the present indictment.

On July 20, 1984, the authorities at the Metropolitan Correctional Center received the arrest warrant which had been "lodged” at the office of the United States Marshal on July 3, 1984. According to the affirmation in opposition submitted by the Assistant District Attorney, which in part is based upon conversations with Carlyle Holder, the Supervisory Legal Technician in charge of records at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, no action based on the lodging of this warrant could possibly have been taken until that date. Further, since the Metropolitan Correctional Center is a temporary holding facility, no rehabilitative programs were available to the defendant.

On July 30, 1984, the defendant was notified that he was to be transported to a Federal penitentiary in Lompoc, California, where he was to serve his Federal prison sentence. The defendant was then incarcerated in that, or some other Federal prison.

The defendant did not again appear in the New York State Court in Kings County until December 11, 1984. After various pretrial motions and hearings, including application to dismiss [359]*359the indictment pursuant to the terms of the IAD, which was denied by order of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Egitto, J.), dated March 22, 1985, the defendant was tried and found guilty of murder in the second degree. He was sentenced on July 11, 1985, to the maximum term of 25 years to life imprisonment. At some time thereafter, the defendant was returned to Federal prison, and the People advise us that he is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Facility at Talladega, Alabama.

II

Before addressing the defendant’s primary contention, it will be helpful to examine the history of the IAD, its underlying purpose, and its relation to other procedures pursuant to which New York, as one sovereign State, may obtain the presence at a criminal trial of a defendant who is in the custody of another State or the United States of America.

CPL 580.10 specifies three separate procedures pursuant to which New York may compel the attendance at a criminal trial in a court of this State of a defendant confined as a prisoner in an institution of another jurisdiction of the United States. These three procedures are set forth in:

(1) CPL 570.12, which provides that, upon agreement of the Governor of this State and the executive authority of the State in which the defendant is imprisoned, the defendant may be extradited to New York,
(2) CPL 580.20 which is the IAD, and
(3) CPL 580.30 which provides that a Federal prisoner may be transferred to the temporary custody of this State.

The Interstate Agreement on Detainers (CPL 580.20) is a compact among 48 States, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and the United States (see, Carchman v Nash, 473 US 716; 2 Waxner, New York Criminal Practice § 10.23; Fried, The Interstate Agreement on detainers and the Federal Government, 6 Hofstra L Rev 493 [1978]). New York adopted this compact in 1957 (L 1957, ch 524 [eff Sept. 1, 1957]) and Congress entered into the IAD on behalf of the United States and the District of Columbia in 1970 (Pub L 91-538, 84 US Stat 1397).

Article IV of the IAD (CPL 580.20, art IV) provides that a prosecutor of a "[Receiving state” (CPL 580.20, art II [c]) (in the present case, New York) "shall be entitled” to the production of a prisoner held in another State (or the United States) [360]*360"upon presentation of a written request for temporary custody [of the prisoner]” (CPL 580.20, art IV [a]). However, there are certain conditions attached to the exercise of this right. First, the prisoner must be actually "serving a term of imprisonment” at the time that the request is made. Second, a "detainer” must previously have been lodged against the prisoner.

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Bluebook (online)
136 A.D.2d 355, 527 N.Y.S.2d 234, 1988 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3747, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-reilly-nyappdiv-1988.