Giardino v. Bourbeau

Decision Date01 May 1984
Citation193 Conn. 116,475 A.2d 298
CourtConnecticut Supreme Court
PartiesAnthony P. GIARDINO v. David BOURBEAU et al.

Alphonse DiBenedetto, Public Defender, for appellant (plaintiff).

Julia D. Dewey, Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, were Arnold Markle, State's Atty., and Michael Dearington, Asst. State's Atty., for appellee (named defendant).

Before SPEZIALE, C.J., and PETERS, PARSKEY, SHEA and GRILLO, JJ.

SPEZIALE, Chief Justice.

This appeal concerns the validity of a governor's rendition warrant ordering the extradition of a Connecticut prisoner where the state violated the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (hereinafter IAD); General Statutes §§ 54-186 through 54-192; before the warrant was issued. The trial court dismissed the plaintiff's petition for a writ of habeas corpus and the plaintiff has appealed. We find no error.

The factual findings made by the trial court are not disputed: On August 27, 1979, the plaintiff was placed on parole from a prison sentence in Connecticut. On March 24, 1980, he was arrested for allegedly violating the conditions of that parole. On April 1, 1980, while incarcerated for the alleged parole violation, the plaintiff was arraigned on a Connecticut charge of being a fugitive from justice; General Statutes § 54-169; based on crimes he allegedly committed in Virginia during his parole. This Connecticut charge was later nolled.

On May 27, 1980, the commonwealth of Virginia, through its prosecuting officials, filed a detainer against the plaintiff pursuant to the IAD, 1 at the New Haven County jail where he was then confined. The detainer 2 was based upon three indictments against the plaintiff handed down in Virginia. Officials at the New Haven County jail immediately notified theplaintiff of the detainer.

After filing the detainer the commonwealth of Virginia also filed, in accordance with article III(a) of the IAD, a request for temporary custody of the plaintiff for the purpose of returning him to Virginia for trial on the indicted offenses. The temporary custody request was never acted upon, and the plaintiff was not advised of the request nor was he ever returned to Virginia for trial.

On January 29, 1981, approximately eight months after the detainer was filed, a Connecticut corrections officer presented the plaintiff with what is known as a form 2, 3 advising the plaintiff of his right to request final disposition of the charges upon which the detainer was based. Because the Connecticut charge of being a fugitive from justice had been nolled, the plaintiff erroneously assumed that the Virginia charges had been dropped. The plaintiff told the official that he was not the subject of any foreign criminal charge and refused to sign the form.

On June 19, 1981, having been unsuccessful in obtaining custody of the plaintiff under the terms of the IAD, the commonwealth of Virginia sought custody through extradition. On August 7, 1981, the governor of Connecticut, on request by the governor of Virginia, issued a rendition warrant against the plaintiff based on the same charges for which the detainer had been filed. 4 The warrant represented that the plaintiff "stands charged with the crime of Robbery, Abduction and Use of Firearm in Commission of Robbery committed in the City of Bristol, Virginia in said State, on or about March 13, 1980, and that he has fled from justice ...." Trooper David Bourbeau, of the Connecticut state police, arrested the plaintiff under the authority of that rendition warrant.

The plaintiff then petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus to the Superior Court for the judicial district of New Haven, naming Bourbeau and Warden Victor Liburdi as defendants, claiming that his continued incarceration, under authority of the rendition warrant, constituted an illegal deprivation of his liberty. The plaintiff alleged that in serving the detainer filed by the commonwealth of Virginia on May 27, 1980, Connecticut corrections officials failed to advise the plaintiff of his right under article III(c) 5 of the IAD to demand "speedy disposition" of the underlying Virginia charges. The plaintiff asserted, inter alia, that this violation of the IAD required invalidation of the rendition warrant.

On March 29, 1982, after a hearing, the trial court found for the defendants and rendered judgment dismissing the plaintiff's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In its memorandum of decision the trial court found that Connecticut corrections officials did in fact violate the plaintiff's rights under the IAD by failing to advise him of his "right ... to demand a speedy trial" of the foreign charges until eight months after the detainer was filed. Nevertheless, the trial court, under the principles announced in Michigan v. Doran, 439 U.S. 282, 99 S.Ct. 530, 58 L.Ed.2d 521 (1978), and Narel v. Liburdi, 185 Conn. 562, 441 A.2d 177 (1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 928, 102 S.Ct. 1974, 72 L.Ed.2d 443 (1982), dismissed the plaintiff's petition and stated, inter alia, that "[n]otwithstanding this flagrant violation of the plaintiff's rights under I.A.D., this court is without jurisdiction to deny extradition of the plaintiff to Virginia under the Constitution; Article IV, § 2; and the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act; General Statutes, § 54-157 et seq."

On appeal the plaintiff contends that the trial court erred in concluding that it was without authority to invalidate the governor's rendition warrant on the basis of an earlier IAD violation concerning the same foreign charges. In essence, the plaintiff argues that because Connecticut officials violated article III of the IAD in serving the detainer filed by the commonwealth of Virginia, the governor of Connecticut had no jurisdiction to issue a rendition warrant on the same underlying charges at a later point. We disagree.

Extradition proceedings frequently give rise to questions concerning the respective rights and duties of both the demanding state and the asylum state. Such questions are of both constitutional and statutory dimension. Article IV, § 2, cl. 2 of the United States constitution states: "A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime." As pertains to Connecticut, the provisions of the extradition clause have been implemented by both federal and state legislation. Federal statutory law provides that when the governor of a state certifies an indictment charging a resident of another state with a crime and delivers a copy of that indictment along with a demand for extradition of the subject to the governor of the asylum state, the asylum state must arrest the subject and deliver him or her to the demanding state. 18 U.S.C. § 3182. 6 The Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, 7 adopted by the General Assembly as General Statutes §§ 54-157 through 54-185, likewise provides, in relevant part: "Subject to the provisions of this chapter, the provisions of the constitution of the United States controlling, and any and all acts of Congress enacted in pursuance thereof, it is the duty of the governor of this state to have arrested and delivered up to the executive authority of any other state of the United States any person charged in that state with treason, felony or other crime, who has fled from justice and is found in this state." General Statutes § 54-158; see Barrila v. Blake, 190 Conn. 631, 634, 461 A.2d 1375 (1983).

The purpose of the extradition clause is twofold: to effectuate the principles of comity by compelling each state to arrest a resident who has been indicted in a sister state and surrender custody to the demanding state; and, to hasten the process of doing so by allowing the asylum state only minimal inquiry into the underlying charge. Michigan v. Doran, supra, 439 U.S. 287-88, 99 S.Ct. 534-535; Biddinger v. Commissioner of Police, 245 U.S. 128, 132-33, 38 S.Ct. 41, 42-43, 62 L.Ed. 193 (1917); Appleyard v. Massachusetts, 203 U.S. 222, 227, 27 S.Ct. 122, 123, 51 L.Ed. 161 (1906). "Whatever the scope of discretion vested in the governor of an asylum state, the courts of an asylum state are bound by Art. IV, § 2, by § 3182, and, where adopted, by the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act.... A governor's grant of extradition is prima facie evidence that the constitutional and statutory requirements have been met." (Citations omitted.) Michigan v. Doran, supra, 439 U.S. 288-89, 99 S.Ct. 535-536. In guiding the state courts as to the proper scope of their inquiry on these matters of federal law the United States Supreme Court adopted a four-part test, setting out a specific and comprehensive list of those matters that a court in an asylum state may examine on a petition for habeas corpus: "Once the governor has granted extradition, a court considering release on habeas corpus can do no more than decide (a) whether the extradition documents on their face are in order; (b) whether the petitioner has been charged with a crime in the demanding state; (c) whether the petitioner is the person named in the request for extradition; and (d) whether the petitioner is a fugitive." Id., 289, 99 S.Ct. 535; see Cuyler v. Adams, 449 U.S. 433, 443 n. 11, 101 S.Ct. 703, 709 n. 11, 66 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981); Barrila v. Blake, supra, 190 Conn. 634, 461 A.2d 1375; Hill v. Blake, 186 Conn. 404, 409 n. 5, 441 A.2d 841 (1982); Narel v. Liburdi, supra.

We recognize that the narrow issue in Michigan v. Doran was whether a court in an asylum state might inquire as to whether probable cause existed for the issuance of an indictment in the demanding state sufficient to satisfy fourth amendment protections. Michigan v. Doran, supra, 439 U.S. 283, 99 S.Ct. 532. The question presented here, whether postindictment procedural errors may bar extradition,...

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11 cases
  • Parks v. Bourbeau
    • United States
    • Connecticut Supreme Court
    • May 29, 1984
    ...from those cases arising under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers; see General Statutes § 54-185; such as Giardino v. Bourbeau, 193 Conn. 116, 475 A.2d 298 (1984) and Narel v. Liburdi, 185 Conn. 562, 441 A.2d 177 (1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 928, 102 S.Ct. 1974, 72 L.Ed.2d 443 (1982), ......
  • State v. Herring
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    • Connecticut Supreme Court
    • February 14, 1989
    ...charges against him because of alleged violations of Article III of the IAD. In accordance with our holding in Giardino v. Bourbeau, 193 Conn. 116, 126, 475 A.2d 298 (1984), only a court in this state, where the underlying charges had been filed, had the power to consider their dismissal. A......
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    • United States
    • Connecticut Supreme Court
    • May 19, 1987
    ...102 S.Ct. 1974, 72 L.Ed.2d 443 (1982). The trial court, relying on our decision in Narel v. Liburdi, supra, and Giardino v. Bourbeau, 193 Conn. 116, 127, 475 A.2d 298 (1984), concluded that it was without jurisdiction to grant the petitioner any relief. The trial court's reliance on these d......
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    • April 16, 1985
    ...the states may establish ancillary provisions as long as they are consistent with the command of the statute. Giardino v. Bourbeau, 193 Conn. 116, 121 n. 7, 475 A.2d 298 (1984). Our application and interpretation of General Statutes § 54-159 must therefore harmonize with 18 U.S.C. § In cons......
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