State v. Sparks, 8704
| Decision Date | 06 February 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 8704,8704 |
| Citation | 104 N.M. 62,1986 NMCA 10,716 P.2d 253 |
| Parties | STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Lehland Paul SPARKS, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of New Mexico |
Defendant appeals from his sentence of three concurrent five-year terms arising from his convictions of three fourth-degree felonies. The court suspended the sentences and placed defendant on probation for five years. The crux of defendant's appeal, however, involves the application of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD), NMSA 1978, Section 31-5-12 (Repl.Pamp.1984).
Defendant was indicted, in October 1978, on the three felony counts. On March 26, 1979, he entered guilty pleas. He, however, failed to appear, on May 15, 1979, at the sentencing proceeding, and the court issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
In 1982, defendant was incarcerated in a federal penitentiary on an unrelated charge. Federal prison officials advised defendant that, due to a New Mexico detainer on him, he could not obtain a minimum security classification. Effectively, this meant that defendant was denied access to work-release programs and furloughs as well as toughening his confinement conditions by raising his status to medium security.
After learning of the detainer, defendant requested, from the Curry County district attorney's office, a hearing on the outstanding sentencing. The district attorney responded with a document accepting temporary custody of defendant, pursuant to Article 3 of the IAD. Article 3 provides, in pertinent part:
A. Whenever a person has entered upon a term of imprisonment in a penal or correctional institution of a party state, and whenever during the continuance of the term of imprisonment there is pending in any other party state any untried indictment, information or complaint on the basis of which a detainer has been lodged against the prisoner, he shall be brought to trial within one hundred eighty days after he has caused to be delivered to the prosecuting officer and the appropriate court of the prosecuting officer's jurisdiction written notice of the place of his imprisonment and his request for a final disposition to be made of the indictment, information or complaint....
The federal prison, however, refused to grant custody of defendant to New Mexico. According to a "Detainer Action Letter," the prison official could not transfer temporary custody because the prison had no detainer for defendant on file. The record indicates that defendant had been transferred from a federal institution in California to a federal institution in Wisconsin; apparently the detainer on file in the California institution was not forwarded to the Wisconsin institution. The letter is dated April 5, 1983.
Six days after its receipt of the "Detainer Action Letter," New Mexico forwarded to the federal prison a letter, signed by the Curry County sheriff, and a bench warrant, signed by Judge Nieves of the Ninth Judicial District. In his letter, the sheriff stated: "Please use said warrant as detainer on subject for our department." The federal prison, in turn, accepted the warrant as a detainer.
On December 12, 1983, defendant again requested disposition of his detainer. New Mexico took no action on the request. Over a year later, on February 21, 1985, defendant made a third request for disposition. The state complied, and defendant returned to New Mexico.
Prior to the hearing on his detainer, defendant filed a motion to dismiss the convictions on the basis that the state had failed to return him to New Mexico within the 180-day requirement of the IAD. The trial court denied the motion, ruling that the 180-day requirement applies only where a detainer for "trial" is present, not where the detainer is only for sentencing.
On appeal, defendant argues that upon his return to New Mexico, the trial court erred in its refusal to dismiss the felony convictions against him and in its imposition of a sentence relative to those convictions. Defendant bases his argument for dismissal on the state's failure to comply with the IAD provisions. In support, defendant argues that defendant's request for the disposition of the sentencing in New Mexico was a cognizable request pursuant to the terms of the IAD. Defendant also asserts that the state's allegations of deficiencies in defendant's request for disposition of the sentencing are not sufficient to relieve the state's obligations under the IAD.
We hold that a request for the disposition of an outstanding sentencing is not cognizable under the IAD. Therefore, the trial court did not err in its refusal to dismiss the felony convictions. Because we hold that the IAD is not operative here, we do not discuss whether procedural deficiencies rendered defendant's requests for disposition inadequate.
The IAD is a congressionally-sanctioned interstate compact. See U.S. Const. art. I, Sec. 10, cl. 3. The compact is federal law and, as such, subject to federal construction. Cuyler v. Adams, 449 U.S. 433, 101 S.Ct. 703, 66 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981). The New Mexico Legislature adopted the IAD in 1971. 1971 N.M.Laws, ch. 270, Sec. 1.
According to the language of the IAD, New Mexico has determined that "charges outstanding against a prisoner, detainers based on untried indictments, informations or complaints, and difficulties in securing speedy trial of persons already incarcerated in other jurisdictions, produce uncertainties which obstruct programs of prisoner treatment and rehabilitation." Sec. 31-5-12. The purpose of the agreement, therefore, is "to encourage the expeditious and orderly disposition of such charges and determination of the proper status of any and all detainers based on untried indictments, informations, and complaints." Id.
In order to accomplish its purpose, Article 3 of the IAD mandates that the prisoner must be informed by the warden that a detainer has been filed against him and that the prisoner may request the final disposition of the untried indictment, information or complaint which forms the basis for the detainer. Id. When the prisoner requests such a disposition, the warden must forward the request, along with a certificate, outlining the prisoner's current confinement status to the...
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