State ex rel. Stanley v. Davis

569 S.W.2d 202, 1978 Mo. App. LEXIS 2779
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 9, 1978
DocketNo. 39710
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 569 S.W.2d 202 (State ex rel. Stanley v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Stanley v. Davis, 569 S.W.2d 202, 1978 Mo. App. LEXIS 2779 (Mo. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

I.

This is an original proceeding in prohibition against respondent, Judge, seeking to prohibit him from proceeding further in a criminal cause wherein relator, Stanley, is charged with the offense of assaulting a police officer, § 557.215, RSMo., and in effect ordering respondent to dismiss an information pending against relator charging that offense. We have jurisdiction. Article V, Section 4, Mo.Const. For reasons hereinafter stated, we conclude that our preliminary writ heretofore issued was improvidently granted and it is therefore quashed.

This case is one of first impression in this state. It deals with the construction of the “Agreement on Detainers” enacted by the [203]*203General Assembly effective June 21, 1971. § 222.160 et seq. RSMo. 1975. The facts are rather simple but the resolution of the legal issue presented is difficult.

II.

On May 24, 1976, the relator, Robert Eugene Stanley, was sentenced to three years imprisonment and a three-year parole term by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. He was incarcerated at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. However, on May 28, 1976, relator was charged in the circuit court of Franklin County, Missouri, with the offense of assaulting a police officer in the performance of his duty, which offense was apparently committed prior to May 24, 1976. On June 1, 1976, arraignment for the state offense was postponed at the request of Stanley’s counsel. On July 2, 1976, the cause was called in Franklin County and the prosecuting attorney and counsel for the defendant-relator appeared. “By agreement of counsel,” arraignment was postponed pending “appearance by Defendant under writ as the Defendant is now in custody of Federal authorities at an unknown institution.” A fair inference from the pleadings in this proceeding indicates that sometime thereafter a detainer was entered against the relator for the state offense of striking a police officer. On at least two occasions prior to May 1977, relator wrote to the prosecuting attorney requesting a speedy trial on the state charge. Finally, on May 5, 1977, relator filed a motion in the circuit court of Franklin County requesting a “speedy trial.” In that motion relator alleged that he was charged with the offense of striking a police officer and that he had not yet been tried for that offense. He alleged that he was presently incarcerated in the Medical Center and was due to be released “sometime the latter part of 1978 and thus, I request an immediate trial upon said charge in order that aforementioned state charge will not continue to have an adverse effect upon the conditions of my confinement.” Machinery was put in motion to transfer the relator from Springfield to Franklin County and the necessary papers were completed. The assistant prosecutor completed the necessary forms under the “Agreement on Detainers” including “Prosecutor’s Acceptance Of Temporary Custody Offered In Connection With A Prisoner’s Request For Disposition Of A Detainer.” The prosecutor accepted temporary custody and “propose[d] to bring this person to trial on the . . . information . . . within the time specified in Article 111(a) of the Agreement on Detain-ers.” He agreed to return the prisoner immediately after the trial is completed in Missouri.

On June 1, 1977, the respondent judge issued an order directing the sheriff to accept temporary custody of the defendant from the federal authorities and to take custody and transport relator to the circuit court and to produce him before the court on June 21, 1977. On June 21,1977, relator and his counsel appeared before the court; relator was arraigned and entered a plea of not guilty. The cause was set for trial on July 21, 1977. After arraignment, the respondent judge ordered the sheriff to return the relator to the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons at the U.S. Medical Center to “await trial and again produce him before this Court on July 19, 1977 to be available for conference with his counsel and for trial on July 21,1977.” Relator was returned to the U.S. Medical Center on June 21,1977. On July 19,1977, the sheriff of Franklin County was ordered to transport the relator from Springfield back to Franklin County.

On July 21, 1977, relator and counsel appeared before the court. Both sides announced ready for trial, but, because of other cases, the court could not try the relator. The case was therefore passed to September 6, 1977 for resetting “unless an earlier date becomes available in which event this case will receive a preferred setting. Sheriff ordered to retain custody of the Defendant under the Agreement on De-tainers and hold Defendant on his Federal sentence.” Relator has been incarcerated in Franklin County jail since July 19, 1977.

[204]*204On July 27, 1977, relator, through counsel, filed a motion to dismiss the case pending against him. The thrust of his motion was that on several occasions prior to May 5, 1977 he wrote to the prosecutor requesting a speedy trial on the state charge, and he contended that more than 180 days have elapsed since his initial request for a speedy trial (December 29,1976) so that, under the Agreement on Detainers, the charge should be dismissed. In paragraph 12 of the motion relator alleged that

“ . . . the Defendant was returned to the Federal institution in Springfield, Missouri on June 21, 1977 without a trial having been held in the matter for which he is detained herein and for which the Defendant is to be placed on trial.”

Relator prayed that the information should no longer be of any further force and should be dismissed with prejudice. The prosecutor filed his motion to overrule relator’s motion to dismiss and contended that a prisoner’s request must be made to the court. Such request was not made until he filed his motion for speedy trial on May 5, 1977, and a trial could well be had within 180 days from May 1977.

The motion to dismiss was argued in August 1977 and overruled on 'September 6, 1977. Although the docket entries do not reflect it, the cause was then set for trial in Franklin County on October 17, 1977.

But, on September 28, 1977, relator filed his petition for writ of prohibition alleging the above facts and requesting that this court prohibit the respondent from proceeding with the cause and attempting to exercise jurisdiction over the cause, except to order its dismissal.

We issued our preliminary writ on October 12, 1977, and a return was filed on behalf of the respondent and denied that the respondent had no jurisdiction to proceed with the cause.

III.

In this proceeding1 relator contends that the respondent erred in overruling his motion to dismiss the information because the relator’s rights have been violated under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers and because the language of the Agreement directs that the information is to be dismissed with prejudice. The whole thrust of relator’s contention is that, because the relator was transferred from the Medical Center at Springfield, Missouri, to Franklin County, Missouri for arraignment and then returned to the Medical Center at Springfield before being tried for the state offense, the mandate of the Agreement on Detainers is that the information must be dismissed with prejudice.

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Bluebook (online)
569 S.W.2d 202, 1978 Mo. App. LEXIS 2779, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-stanley-v-davis-moctapp-1978.