Monroe v. State

• Decision Date: 07 September 2007
• Docket Number: No. 2D05-5502.,2D05-5502.
• Citation: 978 So.2d 177
• Parties: Anthony MONROE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

978 So.2d 177

Anthony MONROE, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 2D05-5502.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

September 7, 2007.

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Alisa Smith, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Richard M. Fishkin, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.

ALTENBERND, Judge.

Anthony Monroe, who is currently serving a 100-month sentence in a federal prison, sought a final disposition of charges pending against him in the State of Florida by filing a request for final disposition pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (IADA), codified as section 941.45, Florida Statutes (2004). The charges included four separate unresolved informations and two older cases in which the State had filed affidavits alleging Mr. Monroe violated his probation. When the State failed to commence a trial on the charges within 180 days, Mr. Monroe sought to dismiss the charges and to be discharged on them pursuant to the terms of Article III(a) of the IADA. The circuit court denied the motion. Thereafter, the State nol prossed the charge in one information, and Mr. Monroe entered pleas of nolo contendere to the charges in the remaining three informations and pleas of admission to violating probation in the two older cases, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his dispositive motion for discharge. The circuit court entered three judgments and two orders revoking probation, imposing sentences totaling 114.9 months in prison, with a recommendation that the sentences run concurrently with the sentence Mr. Monroe is serving in federal prison.

The circuit court properly denied relief as to the orders revoking probation because the provisions of the IADA do not apply to alleged violations of probation. However, the circuit court should have granted the motion for discharge as to the two pending informations to which the motion was specifically addressed. The State failed to timely comply with the mandatory provisions of the IADA, and Mr. Monroe did not waive the protections afforded to him under the IADA. Accordingly, we remand for the circuit court to discharge Mr. Monroe for the offenses in those two cases and for resentencing as to the remaining charges.

I. MR. MONROE'S PENDING FLORIDA CASES AND THE PROVISIONS OF THE IADA

The IADA is a compact entered into by forty-eight States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and United States to establish procedures for the resolution of one jurisdiction's outstanding charges against a prisoner of another jurisdiction. See Carchman v. Nash, 473 U.S. 716, 719, 105 S.Ct. 3401, 87 L.Ed.2d 516 (1985); see also New York v. Hill, 528 U.S. 110, 111, 120 S.Ct. 659, 145 L.Ed.2d 560 (2000). The IADA acts as a federal law subject to federal construction. Bogue v. Fennelly, 705 So.2d 575, 578 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997) (citing Carchman, 473 U.S. at 719, 105 S.Ct. 3401). As such, state courts interpreting it are bound by United States Supreme Court precedent. Bogue, 705 So.2d at 578. The IADA is codified in Florida law as section 941.45.

In 2003, Mr. Monroe was imprisoned in a federal prison in Georgia and sought to invoke the provisions of the IADA to resolve outstanding criminal charges pending against him in Florida. In two cases, case numbers 99-16916 and 99-21500, Mr. Monroe had been placed on drug offender probation for charges of possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana and the State had filed affidavits alleging the violation of his probation. Mr. Monroe also had four pending informations in Florida: case number 00-12534, alleging possession of cocaine and possession of marijuana; case number 00-21537, alleging possession of cocaine, obstruction of justice, and possession of marijuana; case number 01-13881, alleging robbery and home invasion robbery; and case number 02-12781, alleging failure to appear.

As early as August 2003, Mr. Monroe sought a request for final disposition of the Florida cases pursuant to the IADA.¹ The request was first sent to Florida officials as early as September 11, 2003. For the purposes of Mr. Monroe's motion for discharge, however, the parties accepted April 15, 2004, as the date that Florida officials received the request.

Article III(a) of the IADA requires that a prisoner be brought to trial within 180 days after he has "caused to be delivered" a request for disposition of charges pending against him in another jurisdiction, "provided that, for good cause shown in open court, the prisoner or the prisoner's counsel being present, the court having jurisdiction of the matter may grant any necessary or reasonable continuance." § 941.45. The period required by the IADA thus began on April 15, 2004, the date that Florida officials received Mr. Monroe's request. See Fex v. Michigan, 507 U.S. 43, 52, 113 S.Ct. 1085, 122 L.Ed.2d 406 (1993); see also Fuente v. State, 549 So.2d 652, 655 (Fla.1989). It was set to expire on October 12, 2004.

Our record does not indicate precisely when Mr. Monroe was transferred to a Florida jail to resolve these charges. However, it appears this occurred in September 2004. On September 23, 2004, the circuit court appointed the public defender to serve as counsel for Mr. Monroe on these matters. On October 14, 2004, 182 days after the date that Florida officials admittedly received Mr. Monroe's request for disposition, an assistant public defender appeared with Mr. Monroe at a hearing but asked to withdraw from representation of Mr. Monroe due to a conflict of interest. At this point, the 180-day period established by the IADA had expired. No mention was made of the IADA time requirements or of any concerns regarding speedy trial.

The court permitted the withdrawal of the public defender and appointed conflict-free counsel for Mr. Monroe. This attorney did not appear before the court until November 8, 2004, at which point the attorney asserted that Mr. Monroe would waive speedy trial. Thereafter, appointed counsel appeared at a number of hearings and continued to waive speedy trial, at times with Mr. Monroe present and assenting. At no time was the IADA specifically mentioned in the waiver.

Article V(c) of the IADA provides that if a prisoner is not brought to trial within the required time, "[T]he appropriate court of the jurisdiction where the indictment, information, or complaint has been pending shall enter an order dismissing the same with prejudice, and any detainer based thereon shall cease to be of any force or effect." Based upon this provision, Mr. Monroe filed a pro se "motion for dismissal of information" on January 19, 2005, and attached a letter he had mailed to his counsel indicating his desire that he wanted counsel to pursue the motion. This motion did not include a certificate of service. However, on July 29, 2005, Mr. Monroe filed a new pro se "motion to dismiss information" that included a certificate of service indicating the motion was served on the State. Both motions were addressed only to circuit court case numbers 00-12534, involving charges for possession of marijuana and possession of cocaine, and 01-13881, involving charges of robbery and home invasion robbery. There is a notation on both motions that Mr. Monroe's attorney was provided a copy of each. Both motions asserted that Mr. Monroe was entitled to dismissal of the charges and discharge because the time requirements under the IADA had expired without the State having brought him to trial. Thus, at least as of July 29, 2005, the State was aware that Mr. Monroe was claiming the protections of the IADA.

The State did not take action to set the case immediately for trial. In fact, the hearing on Mr. Monroe's motion was not held until November 1, 2005. Between the filing of the July 29 motion and the hearing on November 1, there were no further waivers of speedy trial.

Mr. Monroe's appointed counsel appeared at the hearing on the motion to dismiss, but counsel and the court allowed Mr. Monroe to argue the motion.² Mr. Monroe argued that the periods under the IADA expired without a trial, and he was thus entitled to discharge. The State responded that appointed counsel's continued waivers of speedy trial acted as a waiver of Mr. Monroe's rights under the IADA. Mr. Monroe countered that the waivers occurred after the expiration of the 180-day period and were therefore not effective. No mention was made during this hearing of the requirements of Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.191 regarding speedy trial. Because Mr. Monroe presented no case law directly on point with his argument, the circuit court denied Mr. Monroe's motion. Mr. Monroe proceeded to enter a plea at that hearing, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss.

Initially, we note that Mr. Monroe's notice of appeal in this case referenced all six circuit court cases pending at the time he filed his request for final disposition under the IADA, but he is not entitled to relief on all of these cases. Although Mr. Monroe's request for final disposition acted as a request to resolve all untried indictments under article III(d) of the IADA, his subsequent motion sought discharge on only two of his pending cases, case numbers 00-12534, involving charges for possession of marijuana and possession of cocaine, and 01-13881, involving charges of robbery and home invasion robbery. Indeed, the IADA does not apply to resolve proceedings alleging violations of probation such as those pending against Mr. Monroe in case numbers 99-16916 and 99-21500, see Carchman, 473 U.S. 716, 105 S.Ct. 3401 and thus no relief was available on those cases. It is unclear why Mr. Monroe did not seek relief for case number 00-21537, involving charges of possession of cocaine, obstruction of justice, and possession of marijuana. As to the last case, number 02-12781, the State nol prossed this charge and therefore no issue has been...