United States v. John Butler

7 F.3d 235, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 33229, 1993 WL 386785
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 30, 1993
Docket92-5175
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 7 F.3d 235 (United States v. John Butler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. John Butler, 7 F.3d 235, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 33229, 1993 WL 386785 (6th Cir. 1993).

Opinion

7 F.3d 235

NOTICE: Sixth Circuit Rule 24(c) states that citation of unpublished dispositions is disfavored except for establishing res judicata, estoppel, or the law of the case and requires service of copies of cited unpublished dispositions of the Sixth Circuit.
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
John BUTLER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 92-5175.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Sept. 30, 1993.

Before: KENNEDY and BATCHELDER, Circuit Judges; and ENGEL, Senior Circuit Judge.

PER CURIAM:

Defendant John Butler appeals his jury conviction and sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. Defendant asserts that he was denied a speedy trial under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act ("IADA"), and that the court erred in refusing to review the constitutionality of his prior state convictions used to enhance his sentence.

Butler was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for the Western District of Tennessee on June 11, 1990 for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to do so. During September 1990, defendant was arrested in Florida on separate state charges. Defendant received notice that a detainer had been placed on him by federal authorities in Tennessee on October 2, 1990. On the same day, defendant acknowledged the detainer and requested a speedy trial on the federal indictment. However, the request was not faxed to the United States Marshal in Tennessee until November 15, 1990. On January 20, 1991, defendant was found guilty of the Florida state charges. Prior to being sentenced on those charges, defendant was transported to Tennessee for trial on the June 1990 indictment.

On May 3, 1991, defendant filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, alleging that he had been denied a speedy trial and that the IADA, 18 U.S.C.App. § 2, mandated that the indictment be dismissed because of this delay. On May 22, 1991, the District Court dismissed the June 1990 indictment without prejudice pursuant to IADA § 9(1), provided that defendant would be charged again in a second indictment.

On May 21, 1991, the federal grand jury issued a new indictment against defendant charging him with the same crimes as the first. Defendant filed a motion to dismiss, which the court denied.

On May 30, 1991, the federal jury found defendant guilty of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, but acquitted him of the several counts of possession with intent to distribute. On October 24, 1991, the District Court sentenced defendant as a career criminal to 262 months of imprisonment and a four-year period of supervised release. Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal.

Defendant, through his attorney, raises two issues on appeal. The first is whether the District Court erred in dismissing the June 1990 indictment without prejudice. Second, is whether the court erred in sentencing defendant as a career criminal, when defendant collaterally attacked the validity of his two prior state convictions used in calculating the sentence. Defendant raises several other issues in his pro se supplemental brief.

I.

Defendant contends that the District Court should have dismissed the June 1990 indictment with prejudice because of an alleged IADA violation. Section 2 of the Act provides that whenever a person is "serving a term of imprisonment" in State A, and State B lodges a detainer against that person, that person must be tried on the indictment that served as the basis for the detainer within 180 days from the day the defendant notifies State B of the place of his imprisonment and demands a final disposition of the indictment. 18 U.S.C.App. § 2, Article III(a). The Act further provides, that if the authorities in the receiving state do not try the defendant within the 180 days, a court in the receiving state must dismiss the indictment with prejudice. Id. Article IV(c). However, section 9 of the Act provides that if the receiving state is the United States, the ordering court has the discretion to dismiss the indictment with or without prejudice. Id. § 9(1).

Here, defendant is arguing that he was not brought to trial on the first federal indictment until after the 180 day period had expired. The District Court was uncertain whether the 180 day clock started running on October 2, 1990, when defendant signed the acknowledgment form and demand for a speedy trial, or on November 15, 1990, the day the federal jurisdiction received the documents. If the October date had been used, the 180 period would have expired and the IADA would have been violated. If the November date had been used, defendant's trial on the federal charges would have taken place well within the statutory period. Without deciding this issue, the Court dismissed the indictment without prejudice pursuant to section 9(1).

It appears that the court was not required to apply the IADA to defendant. This Circuit has long recognized that the IADA does not apply to a defendant unless he has "entered upon a term of imprisonment." 18 U.S.C.App. § 2, Article III(a). In United States v. Roberts, 548 F.2d 665, 671 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 431 U.S. 931 (1977), this Court concluded that "the IADA does not apply to a person who is imprisoned awaiting disposition of pending charges and who has not been sentenced to a term of imprisonment." It is undisputed that defendant had not been sentenced in Florida before being transported to federal custody.

While recognizing that the court had discretion to issue the dismissal with or without prejudice under section 9(1), defendant claims that the court abused its discretion in dismissing the first indictment without prejudice. However, since defendant was not entitled to a dismissal at all, it is clear that the court could not abuse its discretion in ordering the dismissal without prejudice.

II.

Next, defendant argues that the District Court erred in including allegedly invalid state convictions in sentencing him as a career criminal. The presentence report included two prior state convictions in its determination of defendant's criminal history score and whether defendant was a career offender under Sentencing Guideline § 4B1.1. Defendant pled guilty on November 15, 1974 to robbery with a deadly weapon. He also pled guilty on December 1, 1988 to attempt to possess a controlled substance with intent to sell or deliver. Defendant challenges both convictions under Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238 (1969), and argues that since these convictions are invalid, they cannot be used for sentencing purposes. The District Court found that "for comity and other reasons, [I] should not set aside this conviction on a guilty plea in a collateral attack of this kind." Joint App. at 61.

In United States v. McGlocklin, No. 91-6121 (6th Cir. Sept. 17, 1993), this Court, en banc, held that the District Court may permit a federal criminal defendant to attack at a sentencing hearing the validity of a previous state court conviction that will enhance the defendant's sentence under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

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Related

Johnny L. Butler v. United States
110 F.3d 63 (Sixth Circuit, 1997)
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57 F.3d 1069 (Sixth Circuit, 1995)

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7 F.3d 235, 1993 U.S. App. LEXIS 33229, 1993 WL 386785, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-john-butler-ca6-1993.