State v. Anderson

939 N.E.2d 1317, 189 Ohio App. 3d 697
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided October 18, 2010·No. No. CA2010-03-019·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

Hendrickson, Judge.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, William E. Anderson, appeals a decision of the Clermont County Court of Common Pleas denying his motion to dismiss a grand-theft charge. For the reasons outlined below, we affirm the decision of the trial court.

{¶ 2} The following facts were stipulated by the parties. On February 14, 2007, a Clermont County grand jury returned an indictment charging appellant with one count of grand theft of a motor vehicle in violation of R.C. 2913.02(A)(3), a fourth-degree felony. At the time of the indictment, appellant was incarcerated in the United States Penitentiary, McCreary, a federal prison located in Kentucky. The same day the indictment was filed, the trial court issued a praecipe [699]*699for a warrant on indictment and a warrant to arrest appellant. Both the praecipe and the warrant accurately listed the McCreary prison as appellant’s address. For some reason, a holder was not teletyped to the McCreary prison, nor was a detainer lodged against appellant at that time. On February 15, 2007, the day following the indictment, Clermont County authorities entered the warrant into Ohio’s Law Enforcement Automated Data System (“LEADS”).

{¶ 3} Appellant was transferred several times to federal prisons in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. Eventually, appellant became eligible to serve the final portion of his federal sentence in a halfway house. This eligibility was cancelled, however, when a LEADS check revealed the outstanding Clermont County warrant. On February 6, 2009, appellant received notice of the pending Clermont County grand-theft charge for the first time.

{¶ 4} Subsequently, appellant sent a document entitled “demand for speedy trial or speedy disposition of warrant(s), detainers or demand in the alternative to dismiss the case” to the clerk of courts at the Clermont County Court of Common Pleas. In the document, which was filed by the clerk on February 13, 2009; appellant argued that the outstanding Clermont County charge adversely affected his conditions of incarceration in Texas and that his speedy-trial rights had been violated.

{¶ 5} On February 19, 2009, Clermont County authorities officially lodged a detainer against appellant. Had the detainer been promptly lodged, the pending Clermont County charge could have been resolved before appellant became eligible for the federal halfway house.

{¶ 6} On February 23, 2009, the Clermont County clerk of courts received appellant’s demand for disposition or dismissal of his case pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (“LAD”). Appellant completed his federal prison sentence on June 30, 2009. Although the record does not disclose the precise date, appellant was subsequently taken into custody by the Clermont County Sheriffs Department.

{¶ 7} Appellant filed another motion to dismiss on August 28, 2009. In this motion, appellant argued that the state violated the IAD on two fronts: (1) by failing to bring him to trial within 180 days of his request for disposition of the case and (2) by unreasonably delaying his opportunity to request disposition of the case. Following a hearing, the trial court denied the motion. Appellant pleaded no contest to one count of grand theft of a motor vehicle and was sentenced to two years of community control. This appeal followed.

Assignment of Error No. 1

{¶ 8} “The trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to dismiss * *

[700]*700{¶ 9} Appellant challenges the trial court’s denial of his motion to dismiss, arguing that the state violated its duty to lodge a detainer against him within a reasonable time when the state knew his whereabouts. This affirmative duty, appellant insists, is implicit in the IAD and imposition of it accords with the overriding purposes of the IAD.

{¶ 10} Ohio is one of 48 states that is a signatory to the IAD along with the United States and the District of Columbia. New York v. Hill (2000), 528 U.S. 110, 111, 120 S.Ct. 659, 145 L.Ed.2d 560. Codified at R.C. 2963.30, the purpose of the act is to facilitate the speedy disposition of charges pending against an individual who is incarcerated in another state. R.C. 2963.30, Art. I. Because the IAD is “ ‘a congressionally sanctioned interstate compact’ within the Compact Clause of the United States Constitution,” interpretation of the act involves a question of federal law. Hill at 111, 120 S.Ct. 659, 145 L.Ed.2d 560, quoting Carehman v. Nash (1985), 473 U.S. 716, 719, 105 S.Ct. 3401, 87 L.Ed.2d 516. See also State v. Ward (Sept. 25, 2000), Clermont App. No. CA99-12-114, 2000 WL 1370993, at *1.

{¶ 11} The IAD sets forth a procedure by which a prisoner may demand the speedy disposition of charges pending against him in another member jurisdiction. R.C. 2963.30, Art. III. The act also establishes a procedure by which a member state may initiate the transfer of a prisoner incarcerated in another member jurisdiction in order to bring that individual to trial in the requesting jurisdiction. R.C. 2963.30, Art. IV. In either case, the provisions of the IAD are triggered only when a detainer is filed with the institution currently holding the prisoner. United States v. Mauro (1978), 436 U.S. 340, 343, 98 S.Ct. 1834, 56 L.Ed.2d 329. A “detainer” is “a request filed by a criminal-justice agency with the institution in which a prisoner is incarcerated, asking the institution either to hold the prisoner for the agency or to notify the agency when release of the prisoner is imminent.” State v. Sanchez, 110 Ohio St.3d 274, 2006-Ohio-4478, 853 N.E.2d 283, ¶ 19, quoting Carehman, 473 U.S. at 719, 105 S.Ct. 3401, 87 L.Ed.2d 516.

{¶ 12} The IAD imposes certain time restrictions upon the state that operate independently from Ohio’s speedy-trial statutes. Ward at *3-4; State v. Denkins, Hamilton App. No. C-030518, 2004-Ohio-1696, 2004 WL 690408, ¶ 7. Article III provides that once a detainer is filed, the warden of the institution holding the prisoner must promptly inform him of the detainer and his right to request final disposition of the charges. If the prisoner makes such a request, the jurisdiction that filed the detainer must bring him to trial within 180 days of receiving the request. Fex v. Michigan (1993), 507 U.S. 43, 49-52, 113 S.Ct. 1085, 122 L.Ed.2d 406.

[701]*701{¶ 13} In overruling appellant’s motion to dismiss, the trial court determined that the IAD’s 180-day speedy-trial clock was not triggered because appellant did not substantially comply with the IAD’s procedural requirements. See State v. York (1990), 66 Ohio App.3d 149, 153, 583 N.E.2d 1046. Rather than notifying the warden of the prison in which he was incarcerated, appellant sent his request for final disposition directly to the clerk of courts at the Clermont County Court of Common Pleas. This prevented the warden of the prison from forwarding appellant’s request to the clerk of courts along with a certificate containing the requisite inmate status information. See id. at 153-154, 583 N.E.2d 1046.

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State v. Anderson, 939 N.E.2d 1317, 189 Ohio App. 3d 697 (Ohio Ct. App. 2010).

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