State v. Smith

124 N.E.3d 301, 2018 Ohio 5020
CourtCourt of Appeals of Ohio, Fourth District, Ross County
DecidedNovember 21, 2018
DocketNo. 18CA3627
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 124 N.E.3d 301 (State v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Ohio, Fourth District, Ross County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Smith, 124 N.E.3d 301, 2018 Ohio 5020 (Ohio Super. Ct. 2018).

Opinion

Harsha, J.

{¶1} After Ryan O. Smith pleaded no contest to multiple felonies, the trial court found him guilty, sentenced him to prison, and ordered restitution. Smith argues that the state violated his statutory right to a speedy trial under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD).

{¶2} Smith contends that Ohio placed a holder on him on September 29, 2016 while he was in a Texas jail. Thus, he believes the 180-day time period for the speedy trial calculation under the IAD began on January 13, 2017, when the Ross County Prosecutor received his request for disposition of the charges, and expired on July 12, 2017. However, the trial court found Smith was not detained until January 2017, thus his demands prior to that date were irrelevant. Accordingly the court implicitly rejected Smith's contention that the Ross County Sheriff's Office lodged a detainer against Smith in September 2016. Yet, the undisputed facts establish that the Ross County Sheriff's Office lodged a detainer against Smith on September 29, 2016 by telling Texas to hold Smith on the Ross County warrant and Ross County would extradite him. Thus, the trial court should have considered Smith's demands in late 2016 and 2017 to determine if he substantially complied with the IAD and triggered the 180-day time period. We sustain Smith's first assignment of error.

{¶3} Additionally, Smith contends that the state violated his statutory right to a speedy trial when it failed to bring him to trial within 270-days after his arrest and notification of the Ross County charges. He argues that the trial court incorrectly found the general speedy trial statute was inapplicable in this context. However, the trial court ruled correctly, as appellate *303courts addressing the issue have consistently held that once the IAD has been invoked, its speedy trial periods apply, rather than the provisions of the general speedy trial statute. We reject Smith's second assignment of error.

I. FACTS

{¶4} After the Ross County Grand Jury named Smith in a four-count indictment on September 2, 2016, the Ross County Common Pleas Court issued a warrant for his arrest. On September 29, 2016, Smith was arrested in Brown County, Texas on unrelated theft charges, and Texas authorities became aware of the Ross County warrant. They immediately notified the Ross County Sheriff's Office that Smith was in the Brown County Jail. Ross County Sheriff's Office responded that same day, confirmed that the Ross County warrant was still in effect, requested a "holder" be placed on Smith and stated that it would extradite him.

{¶5} On September 30, 2016, the Texas court issued four separate "Magistrate's Warnings" to Smith that notified him of the four Ross County indictment counts, specifically stating the charges against him (i.e. "You are charged with the offense of Money Laundering a felony"), advised him of his right to counsel, his right to request appointment of counsel if he could not afford counsel, and his right to remain silent. The Texas court set bail at $15,000 for each of the four Ross County counts.

{¶6} Smith remained in the Brown County Jail, eventually pleaded guilty to the Texas charges on December 12, 2016, and received a ten year prison sentence.

{¶7} In the meantime on November 16, 2016 while Smith was in the Texas jail, he wrote to the Ross County Court of Common Pleas to request extradition to Ohio and the prompt resolution of the Ohio charges. Smith wrote two more letters to the Clerk of Courts for Ross County Court of Common Pleas in December 2016 asking to be extradited immediately pursuant to the IAD so that he could address the Ross County charges. On January 6, 2017, Smith wrote a letter to the Ross County Prosecutor and Sheriff requesting extradition and the final disposition under the IAD. They received the letter on January 13, 2017.

{¶8} On January 19, 2017, the Ohio Attorney General wrote to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice seeking a detainer on Smith and informed Texas that Ohio wanted to begin the extradition process. The letter asked that Smith receive IAD forms in order to obtain Smith's extradition waiver. On January 27, 2017, Joni White, the Texas IAD's Administrator, wrote back to the Ohio Attorney General confirming that a detainer had been placed on Smith. On February 1, 2017, White prepared and sent Smith a "Notice of Untried Indictment, Information or Complaint and of Right to Request Disposition."

{¶9} On March 10, 2017, Smith signed the Notice of Untried Indictment form indicating he received it, he signed the Offenders Notice of Place of Imprisonment and Request for Disposition of Indictments, Information or Complaints. That same day Smith's trial attorney sent a letter to the Ross County Prosecutor requesting that Smith be served with the indictment. On March 13, 2017, Smith wrote a letter to the Ross County Prosecutor's Office seeking a final disposition. The Prosecutor's Office received that letter on April 13, 2017 and faxed it to the Ohio Attorney General the following day.

{¶10} In late March 2017, White forwarded the forms, which Smith signed on March 10, 2017, to the Ohio Attorney General and the Ross County Clerk of Courts.

*304The Ross County Clerk of Courts received the forms on April 3, 2017 and the Ohio Attorney General received them on April 10, 2017.

{¶11} Smith was transported from Texas, placed in custody of the Ross County Sheriff's Office, and pleaded not guilty at a June 2017 arraignment.

{¶12} On July 14, 2017, Smith filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that the state violated his speedy trial rights under the IAD by failing to bring him to trial within the 180-day time period. Smith contended that he sent the prosecutor a written request for disposition that was received on January 13, 2017. Therefore the 180-day speedy trial period commenced on January 13, 2017 and expired on July 12, 2017. The state opposed the motion, arguing that the 180-day period was not triggered until the Ohio Attorney General received Smith's official request for disposition form in April 2017.

{¶13} Subsequently Smith filed a second motion to dismiss, claiming the state had violated his speedy trial rights under R.C. 2945.71 and R.C. 2945.72, for failing to bring him to trial within 270 days of his arrest date of September 29, 2016. The state argued the speedy trial provisions in R.C. 2945.71 and R.C. 2945.72 were inapplicable to Smith because the IAD applied exclusively.

{¶14} On October 10, 2017, Smith filed a supplemental memorandum based on discovery the state provided on October 2, 2017, whereby Smith's counsel first learned of the contents of an "NCIC report."1 The report stated that when Texas contacted the Ross County Sheriff's Office on September 29, 2016, the Ross County Sheriff's Office indicated its warrant was active and advised "please use this as a holder for the subject. We will extradite." Based on this recently provided discovery, Smith argued the state placed a holder on him on September 29, 2016. This conflicted with the state's representations that it did not seek a holder until January 2017. The state did not file a response to Smith's supplemental memo.

{¶15} The day after Smith filed his supplemental memorandum, i.e. October 11, 2017, the trial court denied Smith's first motion to dismiss, finding that a detainer was not lodged against Smith until January 27, 2017.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
124 N.E.3d 301, 2018 Ohio 5020, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-smith-ohctapp4ross-2018.