Opinion ID: 2636528
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Thirteen-month delay from locating Defendant to plea

Text: {18} To evaluate the reasons for the delay during this period, we first look to the applicability of the IAD. The IAD is a compact between forty-eight states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the federal government that provides for delivery of a prisoner incarcerated in one state to another state for trial prior to the termination of the prisoner's sentence. NMSA 1978, § 31-5-12 (1971). For the purposes of this case, the IAD essentially (1) gives a prisoner the right to demand a trial within 180 days; and (2) gives a[s]tate the right to obtain a prisoner for purposes of trial, in which case the [s]tate ... must try the prisoner within 120 days of his arrival. Alabama v. Bozeman, 533 U.S. 146, 151, 121 S.Ct. 2079, 150 L.Ed.2d 188 (2001). The IAD provides these mechanisms, but the state has no affirmative duty to seek custody of a prisoner simply because the state is aware of the prisoner's incarceration in another jurisdiction. Palmer v. Williams, 120 N.M. 63, 67, 897 P.2d 1111, 1115 (1995). Though an accused may assert the right to a speedy disposition under the IAD, the time limits do not apply if the state holding the accused discharges him prior to the running of those limits. State v. Tarango, 105 N.M. 592, 595, 734 P.2d 1275, 1278 (Ct.App.1987) (Once the prisoner is released, his rights regarding a speedy trial are the same as those of any other individual.), overruled on other grounds by Zurla, 109 N.M. 640, 789 P.2d 588 Also, the IAD does not apply to probation revocation proceedings. State v. McDonald, 113 N.M. 305, 309, 825 P.2d 238, 242 (Ct.App.1991); see Carchman v. Nash, 473 U.S. 716, 725, 105 S.Ct. 3401, 87 L.Ed.2d 516 (1985) (A probation-violation charge, which does not accuse an individual with having committed a criminal offense in the sense of initiating a prosecution, thus does not come within the terms of Art. III.). {19} Though the IAD time limitations may not apply, the state retains its Sixth Amendment duty to bring the defendant to trial. United States v. Dowl, 394 F.Supp. 1250, 1255 (D.Minn.1975) (While this provision places no duty upon the state, or in this case the United States, to bring the prisoner to trial absent a demand by him, ... the fact that the defendant is incarcerated in another jurisdiction does not relieve the government from providing a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment. (citing Smith v. Hooey, 393 U.S. 374, 89 S.Ct. 575, 21 L.Ed.2d 607 (1969))); see Dickey v. Florida, 398 U.S. 30, 37-38, 90 S.Ct. 1564, 26 L.Ed.2d 26 (1970) (Although a great many accused persons seek to put off the confrontation as long as possible, the right to a prompt inquiry into criminal charges is fundamental and the duty of the charging authority is to provide a prompt trial.). However, before the State can resolve charges against Defendant for purposes of his Sixth Amendment speedy trial right, the State first had to bring him to New Mexico. Therefore, the State's burden depends in part on the relationship between the IAD procedures and Defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. {20} Under the IAD, when the state files a detainer, the state has 120 days from the date of the prisoner's arrival in the state to commence the trial. Section 31-5-12 art. 4(C). Conversely, when a defendant requests a speedy resolution under the IAD, he shall be brought to trial within one hundred eighty days from the date the State receives his written assertion. Id. art. 3(A). Therefore, a defendant's assertion under the IAD provides a shorter time period in which the state must try the defendant. {21} On April 24, 2003, in the email conversation with the district attorney, defense counsel informed the State that Defendant has requested a speedy disposition since a detainer was placed on him by your office on 12/13/02. [Defendant] sent it to Judge Murdoch and DDA Margot Ballon. But the State did not receive the documents from the Florida prison officials until June 16, 2003. Defendant was scheduled to finish his Florida prison sentence on July 14, 2003. The State had filed a detainer pursuant to the unrelated probation revocation proceeding, but did not have an obligation to seek Defendant's extradition under the IAD provisions. Outside of the IAD time limitations, Defendant's Sixth Amendment right gave the State some obligation to pursue his extradition. {22} However, by defense counsel's representation that Defendant had asserted his IAD rights, it was reasonable for the State to believe that any action by the State to secure Defendant's transportation would be meaningless. At the moment of Defendant's release from the Florida prison, the IAD would cease to apply, and the State would have no responsibility to seek Defendant's extradition. Thus, it was impractical to try and extradite Defendant before his Florida sentence was complete. Therefore, we do not penalize the State for the delay subsequent to this notification. Cf. United States v. Corona-Verbera, 509 F.3d 1105, 1114 (9th Cir. 2007) (holding that where the government has a good faith belief that seeking extradition from a foreign jurisdiction would be futile, due diligence does not require the government to do so); United States v. Blanco, 861 F.2d 773, 778 (2d Cir.1988) (Due diligence does not require the government to pursue goals that are futile.). Under the unique circumstances of this case, Defendant's delay in filing his IAD request, therefore, weighs against his Sixth Amendment claim. {23} Consequently, this delay is attributable in part to the State, to Defendant, and to the inherent delay involved in transferring Defendant to New Mexico. Therefore, we weigh the period of Defendant's incarceration, beginning December 13, 2002, after the State located Defendant in Florida, to his return to New Mexico on July 14, 2003, neutrally.
{24} This thirteen-month period was also marked by intermittent plea negotiations. Generally, there is no rule attributing delay resulting from attempted plea negotiations to a specific party and absent some act of bad faith or some prejudice to the defendant, plea negotiations are themselves not a factor to be held against either party. State v. Eskridge, 1997-NMCA-106, ¶ 15, 124 N.M. 227, 947 P.2d 502; State v. Lujan, 112 N.M. 346, 350, 815 P.2d 642, 646 (Ct.App. 1991). Accordingly, the Court of Appeals noted, [i]n Eskridge, it was the defendant's agreement, through his attorney, to delay the trial setting that weighed against him. In... Lujan, it was the State's delay in responding to the defendant's plea offers that weighed against it. Maddox, 2007-NMCA-102, ¶ 25, 142 N.M. 400, 166 P.3d 461 (citations omitted). {25} Therefore, plea negotiations are not an excuse for a delay in the prosecution of a case. Likewise, unsuccessful plea negotiations do not constitute a valid reason for suspending the defendant's right to a speedy trial. Lujan, 112 N.M. at 350, 815 P.2d at 646 (weighing unsuccessful plea negotiations against the State where the prosecution prolonged the defendant's attempts to negotiate a plea bargain by delaying response to the defendant's proposals). {26} In the present case, the State sent a written plea offer to defense counsel on August 23, 2003, and defense counsel did not respond until November 17, 2003. There seems to have been a suspension of activity in this case while the State waited for defense counsel's response. We agree with the Court of Appeals that the State is not excused in its burden to timely try a defendant while waiting for defense counsel to respond to a plea offer. Maddox, 2007-NMCA-102, ¶ 24, 142 N.M. 400, 166 P.3d 461. Because the State has the burden of bringing a case to trial, we will weigh unreasonable periods of delay against the State. Barker, 407 U.S. at 527, 92 S.Ct. 2182. The State must affirmatively seek to move the case to trial, even while plea negotiations are pending. Therefore, while the State timely made a plea offer, three months is too long a delay to reasonably attribute solely to awaiting a response to that offer. The State must follow up on plea offers and continue to move the case toward trial, even when a plea offer is outstanding. However, Defendant is also required to timely respond to plea offers, and we do not condone Defendant's three-month delay to respond during this period. Therefore, we weigh this three-month period only slightly against the State.
{27} On July 24, 2003, Defendant returned to New Mexico. He was arraigned on July 28, 2003. At the pretrial conference on December 16, 2003, defense counsel indicated that Defendant wished to proceed to trial. The district court set the trial date for January 20, 2004. During this period, the case moved toward trial with customary promptness. We weigh this six-month period of time neutrally between the parties.