People v. Chambers

• Decision Date: 06 January 1992
• Docket Number: No. 90505,90505
• Citation: 439 Mich. 111,479 N.W.2d 346
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Floyd Cleo CHAMBERS, Defendant-Appellant. 439 Mich. 111, 479 N.W.2d 346
• Court: Michigan Supreme Court

Page 346

479 N.W.2d 346

PEOPLE of the State of Michigan Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Floyd Cleo CHAMBERS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 90505.

439 Mich. 111, 479 N.W.2d 346

Supreme Court of Michigan.

Jan. 6, 1992.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Gay Secor Hardy, Sol. Gen., John D. O'Hair, Pros. [439 MICH 112] Atty., and Brian D. Marzec, Detroit, for plaintiff-appellee.

Norris J. Thomas, Jr., Detroit, for defendant-appellant.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

The question presented by the defendant's delayed application for leave to appeal is whether a person whose conviction has been reversed or otherwise set aside, but who nonetheless remains in the custody of the Department of Corrections, is subject to the 180-day rule of M.C.L. Sec. 780.131; M.S.A. Sec. 28.969(1) and M.C.L. Sec. 780.133; M.S.A. Sec. 28.969(3). The circuit court and the Court of Appeals have held that the rule does not apply to such a defendant. We affirm.

I

A seven-count felony information ¹ was filed against defendant on December 18, 1984. Initially, defendant pleaded guilty of assault with intent to commit murder, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He was sentenced to fifteen to twenty-five years imprisonment for the assault and robbery convictions and to a consecutive two-year term for the felony-firearm conviction.

On June 16, 1986, defendant filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea on the basis that a transcript of the plea proceeding could not be located or prepared. On June 27, 1986, the trial court granted defendant's motion to withdraw and set aside his guilty plea.

On April 1, 1987, defendant pleaded nolo contendere ² ] to all seven charges. He was again sentenced to prison, this time with his longest term being ten to fifteen years, consecutive to the mandatory two-year sentences for the felony-firearm convictions.

II

The issue presented by the instant appeal arises from the fact that from the time his motion to withdraw the guilty plea was granted until shortly before the nolo contendere plea, the defendant remained in the custody of the Department of Corrections at the Kinross Correctional Facility, even though he was not being held pursuant to any conviction and sentence.

Shortly after the expiration of 180 days after the setting aside of his initial plea, the defendant moved to dismiss on the basis of M.C.L. Sec. 780.131; M.S.A. Sec. 28.969(1) ³ and M.C.L. Sec. 780.133; M.S.A. Sec. 28.969(3). ⁴ The circuit court denied the motion, ⁵ and shortly thereafter the defendant tendered his nolo contendere plea to the charged offenses. ⁶

After sentencing, the defendant filed a motion to withdraw the nolo contendere plea, raising speedy trial and 180-day rule issues. The motion was again denied by the circuit court.

Defendant appealed, claiming that his convictions must be reversed because his case was not scheduled for trial within 180 days of June 27, 1986, the date on which his initial guilty plea was set aside by the trial court. The Court of Appeals affirmed in an unpublished per curiam opinion. It rejected defendant's contention, relying principally on the context of the language of Sec. 1 of the statute. The Court said:

"Section 1 of the act requires that the Department of Corrections give written notice of the inmate's location to the prosecuting attorney of the county in which the warrant, indictment, information or complaint is pending. Unless the prisoner was somehow 'lost' in the penal system, such notice would hardly be deemed necessary in situations such as defendant's because the prosecutor to whom the notice would be sent is the one who caused the confinement initially. Further, Sec. 1 requires that the Department of Corrections accompany the notice with a statement as to 'the term of commitment under which the prisoner is being held, ... the time remaining to be served on the sentence, ... the time of parole eligibility of the prisoner, and any decisions of the parole board relating to the prisoner.' All of this information would be pertinent only to an inmate who is serving a sentence which is independent of any charges which resulted in a conviction which was reversed on appeal, or set aside on a withdrawn guilty plea. Therefore, we conclude that within the context of Sec. 1, an 'inmate' must be a prisoner who is serving a sentence unrelated to the pending charges." Unpublished opinion per curiam of the Court of Appeals, decided October 8, 1990 (Docket No. 99305), pp. 2-3.

The defendant has filed a delayed application for leave to appeal to this Court.

III

This issue has arisen a number of times in Court of Appeals decisions, with conflicting results. Cases such as People v. Pixler, 134 Mich.App. 143, 350 N.W.2d 765 (1984), and People v. Holbrook, 180 Mich.App. 710, 447 N.W.2d 796 (1989), have held that the statute does not apply to persons in the posture of defendant Chambers. On the other hand, cases such as People v. Walker, 111 Mich.App. 641, 314 N.W.2d 721 (1981), and People v. Leroy, 157 Mich.App. 334, 403 N.W.2d 555 (1987), have concluded that charges must be dismissed where the initial conviction was reversed and the defendant was not retried within 180 days.

The statute speaks of "any untried information" brought against "any inmate of a correctional facility." Reading these phrases in isolation, the defendant has a plausible argument that the statute applies without regard to whether the incarceration resulted from a sentence of commitment separate from the case for which the defendant is awaiting prosecution. However, we agree with the Court of Appeals in the instant case and in Pixler and Holbrook that, reading the statute as a whole, the Legislature intended that the statute apply to an inmate who is incarcerated as a result of a conviction other than the untried information in question. Defendant, by contrast, was effectively in the status of a pretrial detainee.

This case is unusual because the defendant remained in a Department of Corrections facility for many months after his initial conviction was set aside. ⁷ However, the position argued by the defendant would produce anomalous results in more typical cases. Normally, following the setting aside of a conviction, the Department of Corrections would be notified of the change of the inmate's status and the defendant would be transferred to local detention facilities either for pretrial incarceration or release on bail. If defendant Chambers' theory were to be accepted, the statute would apply to such a defendant, even though that person...