Hicks v. Gravett
| Decision Date | 29 March 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 92-1152,92-1152 |
| Citation | 849 S.W.2d 946,312 Ark. 407 |
| Parties | Marvin L. HICKS, Appellant, v. Carroll L. GRAVETT, In His Official Capacity as Sheriff of Pulaski County, Arkansas, Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Sam Hilburn, Little Rock, for appellant.
Larry D. Vaught, Little Rock, for appellee.
Marvin Hicks, a federal prisoner, appeals a circuit court decision denying his petition for writ of mandamus against Pulaski County Sheriff Carroll Gravett. Hicks wanted the trial court to order Sheriff Gravett to withdraw a detainer that was lodged against Hicks by the sheriff because of a state conviction in Arkansas. We affirm.
The petitioner, Marvin Hicks, is presently serving a twenty-four month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas. Subsequent to his federal sentencing, Hicks was sentenced in Pulaski County Circuit Court to the Department of Correction. As a result, Sheriff Gravett lodged a detainer against Hicks at Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution. Once the Federal Bureau of Prisons learned of this detainer, it refused Hicks' request to be transferred to a minimum security federal prison explaining that if the detainer was removed, Hicks would be considered for minimum security placement.
Hicks subsequently filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the Pulaski County Circuit Court asking the court to issue a writ of mandamus "compelling the Defendant to withdraw the Detainer filed against the Plaintiff immediately." Hicks based his petition on an allegation that Sheriff Gravett lacked the authority to issue the detainer and that this was an improper use of a detainer.
After a hearing on this matter, the Pulaski County Circuit Court determined in pertinent part that:
2. That the Defendant placed a detainer on Plaintiff with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to hold Plaintiff to serve his state sentence when he completed his federal sentence.
3. That the detainer was not issued under, nor is it governed by, the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (Ark.Code Ann. § 16-95-101, et seq.).
4. The detainer is a valid request to hold the prisoner and to notify Defendant when release is imminent, and Defendant has the inherent authority to place the detainer.
IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Plaintiff's Petition for Writ of Mandamus be denied and dismissed.
It is from this decision that Hicks brings this appeal.
The standard of review upon denial of a writ of mandamus is whether the trial court abused its discretion. State v. Sheriff of Lafayette County, 292 Ark. 523, 731 S.W.2d 207 (1987). In deciding when a writ of mandamus should issue, we said in Eason v. Erwin, 300 Ark. 384, 781 S.W.2d 1 (1989) A mandamus is not a writ of right but is within the discretion of the court, and the party applying for it must show a specific legal right and the absence of any other adequate remedy. It will not lie to control or review matters of judicial discretion, but only to compel the exercise of such discretion
(Citations omitted.) See Thompson v. Erwin, 310 Ark. 533, 838 S.W.2d 353 (1992). Furthermore, a mandamus action enforces the performance of a legal right after it has been established; a mandamus' purpose is not to establish a right. Springdale Bd. of Education v. Bowman, 294 Ark. 66, 740 S.W.2d 909 (1987); Buttolph Trust v. Jarnagan, 302 Ark. 393, 789 S.W.2d 466 (1990).
Hicks has failed in his proof to show a "specific legal right" to have the detainer withdrawn. As such, the decision of the circuit court to deny the writ of mandamus is affirmed.
Defined generally, a detainer is the "restraint of a man's personal liberty against his will." Blacks Law Dictionary, 5th Ed. The Interstate Agreements on Detainers Act, Ark.Code Ann. § 16-95-101 et seq., deals specifically with ensuring that prisoners with pending charges in other states are protected from speedy trial violations. Under the Act, a detainer is "an informal notice to...
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