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Summary 2009 WY 52

Summary of Decision issued April 13, 2009

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: Short v. State

Citation: 2009 WY 52

Docket Number: S-08-0014

Appeal from the District Court of Campbell County, the Honorable John R. Perry, Judge.

Representing Appellant Short: Diane M. Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina N. Kerin, Appellate Counsel; Eric M. Alden, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel.

Representing Appellee State: Bruce A. Salzburg, State Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Jenny L. Craig, Assistant Attorney General.

Facts/Discussion: Appellant sought review of the district court?s denial of his motion to dismiss based on the State?s alleged violation of his rights under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers.

IAD processes can be generated by the state wherein charges are pending or by the person incarcerated in another jurisdiction. If the procedures are brought by the state, the person must be brought to trial within 120 days of that person?s arrival in the receiving state. If initiated by the person, he must be brought to trial within 180 days of delivery of his request for disposition. The parties agreed that Short initiated the proceedings but he argued in his brief that Wyoming authorities initiated the procedures. The Court applied the 180 day period because it was consistent with the facts and it would not consider an argument not argued below. The period begins to run when the prisoner has delivered his request for disposition. On November 21, 2006, Short gave his IAD paperwork to Colorado officials for forwarding to Wyoming. On January 8, 2007, the paperwork was received by Wyoming officials. Short delayed the Wyoming proceedings by seeking a continuance of the preliminary hearing from March 1, 2007 to May 4, 2007. Short provided no facts from which the Court could conclude that the length of delay was unreasonable or that it should not be attributed to him. The Court agreed with the State, that the trial was timely held on June 25, 2007.

Conclusion: Under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-15-101 (Article III), the jury trial must commence within 180 days of the date the prisoner has delivered his request for disposition to the prosecutor and court of the charging state. Unreasonable time delays caused by the custodial state do not toll the statutory period. The period is tolled for any amount of time attributable to the prisoner?s conduct that renders him unavailable for trial.

Affirmed.

C.J. Voigt delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/dcxkea .

[SPECIAL NOTE: This opinion uses the "Universal Citation." It was given an "official" citation when it was issued. You should use this citation whenever you cite the opinion, with a P.3d parallel citation. Please note when you look at the opinion that all of the paragraphs are numbered. When you pinpoint cite to a quote, you should cite to this paragraph number rather than to any page number. If you need assistance in putting together a citation using the Universal Citation form, please contact the Wyoming State Law Library.]

Full post as published by Law Library Letter on April 14, 2009 (boomark / email).