Opinion ID: 1922848
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Dismissal of the Charges for Violation of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act

Text: The defendant argues that the criminal information should have been dismissed because the state failed to bring the case to trial within the time limitations required by the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (IADA), G.L.1956 chapter 13 of title 13. The trial justice denied the motion to dismiss on this ground and, in his ruling, incorporated the reasoning of other Superior Court justices who had denied similar defense motions based on this alleged IADA violation. For the reasons stated in our opinion in State v. Werner, 830 A.2d 1107 (R.I.2003), we deny defendant's appeal on this ground. The defendant, in his pro se supplemental brief, raises the additional ground that the Superior Court for the County of Kent, which denied his motion to dismiss on IADA grounds, was without subject-matter jurisdiction to do so. We reject this argument, since the several counties of this state do not constitute separate jurisdictions. They are separate venues in which trials normally take place involving offenses that have been committed within a particular county. However, by order of a justice of the Superior Court for the convenience of parties and witnesses, proceedings may be transferred to another county. See Rule 21 of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure. In the case at bar, a justice of the Superior Court for the County of Kent heard a number of motions relating to the IADA time frames in the County of Kent. Since the same issue was involved in all cases (including the information in the case at bar), it was convenient for the parties to argue all motions at the same time since they involved nearly identical issues. There was no absence of subject-matter jurisdiction on the part of the motion justice who heard these arguments and ruled on defendant's contentions in respect to several cases. The record discloses no objection based upon improper venue as having been raised by defendant at the time of this argument. Consequently, we deny defendant's argument based on lack of jurisdiction.