Hickey v. State

• Decision Date: 20 March 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83-206,83-206
• Parties: Michael Moran HICKEY, a/k/a Michael John Moran, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE of Iowa, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Court of Appeals

Page 772

349 N.W.2d 772

Michael Moran HICKEY, a/k/a Michael John Moran, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. STATE of Iowa, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 83-206.

Court of Appeals of Iowa.

March 20, 1984.

Charles L. Harrington, Appellate Defender, and Linda Del Gallo, Asst. Appellate Defender, for plaintiff-appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Lona Hansen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant-appellee.

Considered by SCHLEGEL, P.J., and HAYDEN and SACKETT, JJ.

SCHLEGEL, Presiding Judge.

The plaintiff, an inmate of the Men's Reformatory in Anamosa, Iowa, appeals from the trial court's denial of habeas corpus and refusal to dismiss a request by the State of Florida that the plaintiff be temporarily placed in its custody for trial on pending Florida criminal charges pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Compact. The plaintiff asserts that under Article III(a) of Iowa Code section 821.1 (Interstate Agreement on Detainers Compact), Florida has lost its right to bring him from another state for trial by failing to do so within 180 days of his request for such trial. The State of Iowa asserts in response that the plaintiff's requests to Florida for a speedy disposition of the charges did not meet the procedural requirements of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Compact (IADC) and, therefore, did not trigger the provision of the statute requiring trial within 180 days. We affirm.

On September 24, 1982, a "Request for Temporary Custody" was filed in Jones County District Court by the Broward County [Florida] State Attorney's Office. The request was directed to the Iowa Men's Reformatory and proposed to bring the defendant to Florida for trial on robbery and theft charges pursuant to Article IV(c) of the IADC. The plaintiff in this action, Michael Moran Hickey a/k/a Michael John Moran, resisted Florida's application for custody on the basis that he had previously requested a transfer of custody for disposition of the Florida criminal charges under Article III(a) of the IADC and Florida failed to bring him to trial on the pending charges within 180 days of his request. We briefly set out the relevant facts in this case in order to clarify the conflicting claims.

The facts are essentially undisputed. Plaintiff was arrested in Cedar County, Iowa, on December 18, 1981 on a theft charge. Florida authorities sent a teletype to the Cedar County Sheriff's Office on December 24, 1981, informing the sheriff that Broward County held an active warrant for Michael Moran Hickey on grand theft and robbery charges. The Cedar County Sheriff informed the plaintiff that Florida had "placed a hold on him" and the plaintiff indicated that he wanted to waive extradition. On February 9, 1982, the Broward County Sheriff sent a letter to the Cedar County Sheriff requesting that an enclosed capias ¹ for the defendant's arrest and other documents be filed as a detainer. This detainer was not, however, served upon the plaintiff.

The plaintiff, while incarcerated in Cedar County awaiting trial on the Iowa charge, wrote a letter on March 1, 1982 to the County Attorney's Office in Broward County, Florida, advising them of his place of incarceration and stating that if the Florida charges were still in effect, he would waive extradition to Florida so that he could be tried as quickly as possible. This letter was notarized and mailed by an employee of the Cedar County Sheriff's Office, but it was not given to the Cedar County Sheriff nor accompanied by a certificate as contemplated in Article III(a) of the Agreement on Detainers Compact.

Plaintiff was sentenced in Iowa on a theft charge and committed to the Iowa Men's Reformatory in Anamosa on March 22, 1982. The Cedar County Sheriff also transmitted the Florida detainer to the Iowa officials at the Reformatory. ² On April 5, 1982, an administrative officer for the Reformatory sent the Sheriff of Broward County, Florida, a letter notifying him that the detainer on plaintiff had been received, that notice would be given to the Florida authorities prior to the plaintiff's release, and that the plaintiff's tentative discharge date was November 4, 1984. The administrative officer, Kay Shaw, testified that she sent a copy of the letter to the plaintiff through prison mails, but plaintiff testified he did not receive this letter. The administrative officer did not inform plaintiff of the Florida detainer on the plaintiff as contemplated by Article III(c) of the IADC because of her mistaken belief that Florida was not a party state to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Compact.

The plaintiff again wrote a letter to the Broward County, Florida, officials requesting a speedy disposition of the Florida charges on May 18, 1982. The plaintiff specifically mentioned the IADC and the 180-day time limit of Article III. This letter was notarized and accompanied by a certificate of mailing executed by the Iowa Reformatory Mailroom Officer. There was nothing to indicate, however, that the letter had been transmitted to other Iowa Reformatory officials and there was no certificate as contemplated by the IADC accompanying the request.

The plaintiff was informed of the Florida detainer on June 18, 1982, during an interview by a parole officer. Plaintiff met with Kay Shaw on June 21, 1982, at which time he was provided with a copy of the Florida detainer and a notice of his rights under the IADC. Although the administrative officer offered to assist in filling out the forms to implement the speedy trial provisions of the IADC, the plaintiff refused because of his belief that he had already done so. Plaintiff also wrote a letter to the Broward County, Florida, officials withdrawing his prior waiver of extradition and informing them that he would seek to have the Florida detainer quashed because of Florida's alleged failure to comply with the speedy trial provisions of the IADC.

The Broward County [Florida] Attorney's Office initiated a "Request for Temporary Custody" of the plaintiff under Article IV(a) of the IADC on September 10, 1982. That request was received by the Iowa officials at the Iowa Men's Reformatory on September 16, 1982. It was proposed in the request that the Florida officials would take custody on or after October 22, 1982. It is pursuant to Florida's Article IV request that temporary custody is being sought. Plaintiff does not contend on this appeal that those provisions were improperly invoked.

The plaintiff resisted the request for temporary custody by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and/or motion to dismiss. Plaintiff requested the district court to dismiss the Florida charges for want of timely prosecution and for failure to comply with the speedy trial requirements of the IADC. The plaintiff also requested that the Florida detainer be removed from plaintiff's Iowa files and "returned to Florida as null and void." The trial court denied plaintiff's request for relief finding that plaintiff had not complied with the requirements of the IADC to activate the speedy trial provisions of Article III(a). Plaintiff appeals only the trial court's refusal to quash the Florida detainer and remove it from his Iowa records.

Iowa is the "sending state" in this action and Florida is the "receiving state." Iowa Code § 821.1 ART. II(b) and (c) (1983). Florida has invoked the IADC under Article IV(a) by initiating the transfer. Plaintiff is attempting to challenge the transfer by seeking a writ of habeas corpus. He is asserting that Florida's request is barred by its alleged failure to comply with the speedy trial provisions of Article III(a) which he allegedly invoked by his actions while incarcerated in the Cedar County jail and subsequently at Anamosa.

I. In habeas corpus matters (except in child custody cases) our review is not de novo. Thurman v. State, 223 N.W.2d 248, 249 (Iowa 1974). We are bound by the trial court's findings for which there is substantial evidentiary support; we consider only assigned errors and we normally review only those matters properly raised and preserved below. Id.; Hughes v. Waters, 204 N.W.2d 599, 600 (Iowa 1973).

II. The parties did not address the issue of whether or not Iowa has jurisdiction as the "sending state" under the IADC to entertain an action to determine whether the "receiving state" has complied with the provisions of the IADC. Normally an issue may not be raised for the first time on appeal. Zeman v. Canton State Bank, 211 N.W.2d 346, 350 (Iowa 1973). Jurisdiction, however, is a matter that can be raised at any stage of the proceedings and will be considered by the court on its own motions when appropriate. In re Matter of Estate of Dull, 303 N.W.2d 402, 406 (Iowa 1981); Recker v. Gustafson, 271 N.W.2d 738, 739 (Iowa 1978). We elect to do so in this case.

The United States Supreme Court held in Cuyler v. Adams, 449 U.S. 433, 101 S.Ct. 703, 66 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981), that prisoners transferred pursuant to Article IV of the IADC are not required to give up any preexisting rights they had under state or federal law to challenge their transfer to the "receiving state." Id. at 450, 101 S.Ct. at 712, 66 L.Ed. at 655. A prisoner transferred against his will should be entitled to whatever safeguards of the extradition process he might otherwise have enjoyed, including those procedural protections of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act [Iowa Code chapter 820 (1983) ]. Id. at 448, 101 S.Ct. at 711-12, 66 L.Ed. at 654. Under the Supreme Court's interpretation, prisoners are given the right to a judicial hearing in which they can bring a limited challenge to the "receiving state's" custody request. Id. at 449, 101 S.Ct. at 712, 66 L.Ed.2d at 654-55.

Traditionally under Iowa law, a prisoner was entitled to bring a limited challenge by a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to the extradition request of a foreign state. Thurman v. State, 223 N.W.2d at 249; Hughes v. Waters, 204 N.W.2d at 600. We were concerned with only two questions: "(1) Is peti...