Com. v. Davis

• Decision Date: 18 December 2001
• Citation: 567 Pa. 135,786 A.2d 173
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. William E. DAVIS, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

786 A.2d 173

567 Pa. 135

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. William E. DAVIS, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 30, 2001.

Decided December 18, 2001.

Edward Michael Marsico, Francis T. Chardo, Jospeh M. Sembrot, Harrisburg, for Commonwealth of PA.

Dale Elise Lemberger, Dale E. Klein, for William E. Davis.

Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN and SAYLOR, JJ.

OPINION

NEWMAN, Justice.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Commonwealth) appeals the Order of the Superior Court, which affirmed an Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County (trial court) granting the Motion to Dismiss filed by William E. Davis (Appellee) pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9101, et seq. Because we hold that the Interstate Agreement on Detainers does not apply in this case, we reverse.

BACKGROUND

On July 29, 1998, Derry Township police officers arrested Appellee prior to a concert at Hersheypark Stadium. The officers charged Appellee with unlawful delivery of a non-controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver a non-controlled substance. The officers observed Appellee attempting to sell a counterfeit substance to another person attending the concert. After his arrest, officers discovered that Appellee possessed other non-controlled substances packaged for distribution.

Appellee waived his right to a preliminary hearing and appeared for his trial date, originally scheduled for the November 16, 1998 criminal court term. The case was not called until the January 13, 1999 court term. Appellee failed to appear for his January court date and a capias¹ was issued for his arrest. Appellee was in Buffalo, New York, where he was serving a term of imprisonment resulting from charges arising in New York. Appellee was incarcerated in New York from February 3, 1999, to March 13, 1999. On February 12, 1999, while Appellee served his sentence in New York, the Commonwealth lodged a detainer against him. On March 5, 1999, eight days before his release from prison in New York, Appellee agreed to waive his extradition and return to Pennsylvania. The Commonwealth obtained custody of Appellee on March 13, 1999, and placed him in Dauphin County Prison on March 15, 1999.

On August 2, 1999, Appellee filed a Motion to Dismiss pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (IAD), 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9101-9108, alleging that the Commonwealth failed to bring him to trial within 120 days following his return to the custody of the Commonwealth. On that day, the trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing and subsequently granted Appellee's motion. The Commonwealth appealed to the Superior Court.

The Superior Court affirmed the decision of the trial court. Commonwealth v. Davis, 757 A.2d 959 (Pa.Super.2000). In determining that the Commonwealth obtained custody of Appellee via the IAD, the Superior Court focused on the fact that a detainer was lodged against Appellee while he was incarcerated. Id. at 961. The Superior Court concluded that the mere filing of a detainer was sufficient to trigger the Commonwealth's obligation pursuant to Art. IV of the IAD, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9101 to bring Appellee to trial within 120 days. Since Appellee was not called for trial within 120 days of his return to the custody of the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth did not offer good cause regarding why Appellee was not brought to trial within this time, the Superior Court concluded that the trial court properly granted Appellee's motion to dismiss.

DISCUSSION

Appellee contends that the IAD provides a mechanism that allows a sentenced prisoner located in the sending state to be brought to the receiving state to face outstanding charges in that state. According to Appellee, the Commonwealth lodged a capias "as a detainer" against Appellee, while he was serving his sentence in Buffalo, New York. Appellee contends that such an act invokes Article IV of the IAD, and the Commonwealth had 120 days to bring Appellee to trial. Appellee further argues the fact that he completed his sentence in New York before being returned to Pennsylvania does not preclude the application of the IAD.

As we have previously detailed:

The IAD is an agreement between forty-eight states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the United States, that establishes procedures for the transfer of prisoners incarcerated in one jurisdiction to the temporary custody of another jurisdiction which has lodged a detainer against a prisoner. Unlike a request for extradition, which is a request that the state in which the prisoner is incarcerated transfer custody to the requesting state, a detainer is merely a means of informing the custodial jurisdiction that there are outstanding charges pending in another jurisdiction and a request to hold the prisoner for the requesting state or notify the requesting state of the prisoner's imminent release.

Commonwealth v. Montione, 554 Pa. 121, 720 A.2d 738, 740 (1998) (citations omitted).²

Article IV of the IAD provides the procedure by which the prosecutor in the requesting State initiates the transfer:

(a) The appropriate officer of the jurisdiction in which an untried indictment, information or complaint is pending shall be entitled to have a prisoner against whom he has lodged a detainer and who is serving a term of imprisonment in any party state made available in accordance with Article V(a) hereof upon presentation of a written request for temporary custody or availability to the appropriate authorities of the state in which the prisoner is incarcerated.....

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(c) In respect of any proceeding made possible by this article, trial shall be

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