Court Opinion

ID: 9497776
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:59:56.186976+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:24.963910
License: Public Domain

MICHAEL, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the judgment and concurring in part:
I concur in the judgment entered by the majority, which remands for further consideration of Curtis Woolfolk’s Sixth Amendment and Speedy Trial Act claims. I also concur fully in the reasoning in part II.B of the majority opinion, which deals with Woolfolk’s claim that his speedy trial rights were denied under the Sixth Amendment. I respectfully disagree, however, with the majority’s conclusion in part II.A that a federal detainer does not trig*599ger Speedy Trial Act rights until “the Government has knowledge that an individual is being held by state authorities only to answer to federal charges,” Ante at 596.1 would have the district court analyze the Speedy Trial Act claim under a different standard — a standard that serves the Act’s purpose of achieving the prompt disposition of criminal cases. Specifically, the Speedy Trial Act’s thirty-day indictment, clock should be triggered at the point when a state holds a prisoner under the sole authority of a federal detainer.
Woolfolk was locked up in a Virginia jail in December 2002 to await the disposition of state criminal charges. On January 9, 2003, the U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Virginia lodged with the Virginia authorities a detainer against Woolfolk that was based on a warrant for his arrest on federal drug charges. The document was entitled “DETAINER AGAINST UN-SENTENCED PRISONER.” J.A.' 13. The detainer stated that “[t]he notice and speedy trial requirements of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers'Act do NOT apply to this detainer'because the subject is not currently serving a sentence of imprisonment.” Id. The government thus did not volunteer to extend Woolfolk any rights under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act, which gives a sentenced prisoner subject to a detainer the right to demand a prompt trial on the charges underlying the' detainer, that is, a trial within 180 days. See 18 U.S.C. app. 2 § 2, art. 3. The detainer requested that the government be notified before Woolfolk was released so that it could assume physical custody. Woolfolk’s state charges were disposed of on April 10, 2003, and he was then no longer subject to state custody. He was held in the state jail, however, until July 10, 2003, when he was finally picked up by the federal authorities. Woolfolk was indicted on federal charges on August 7, 2003. The question is whether he was being held solely to answer the federal charges after April 10, 2003. If he was, the government violated the Speedy Trial Act’s requirement that he be indicted within thirty days after his arrest.
The Speedy Trial Act provides that “[a]ny ... indictment charging; an individual with the commission of an offense shall be filed within thirty days from the date on which such individuál was arrested ... in connection with such charges.” 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b): Our circuit recognizes that “[f]or the [indictment] time limit ... to commence a person must be held for the purpose of answering [to] a federal charge.” United States v. Lee, 818 F.2d 302, 304 (4th Cir.1987) (internal quotation marks and citation, omitted) (emphasis omitted). Assuming that all state charges against Woolfolk were disposed of on April 10, 2003, when he received a suspended sentence, there was no longer any valid state authority under which he could have been held. The Virginia authorities nevertheless continued to hold Woolfolk in custody. Thus, the only two possibilities are that (1) the state authorities held Woolfolk illegally, or (2) they detained him pursuant to valid federal authority (the detainer). The government maintains that a detainer like the one here serves to hold a defendant in custody once state grounds for detention have ended. The detainer thus functioned as a valid grant of federal authority to state law enforcement officials to hold the defendant on federal charges when, in the absence of the detainer, he would have been entitled to his release.
I will assume for this discussion that Woolfolk was not held on state charges after April 10. Woolfolk was “arrested ... in connection with [the federal] charges,” 18 U.S.C. § 3161(b), some time on April 10 because that was when the state- began detaining him solely on the basis of the outstanding federal detainer. *600Woolfolk was “held for the purpose of answering [to the] federal charge,” Lee, 818 F.2d at 304, after April 10 because there was no other purpose for which the state could have legally detained him. The majority avoids this conclusion by taking language from Lee and construing it narrowly to excuse the government from its responsibilities under the Speedy Trial Act. The majority begins by citing Lee for the proposition that “the provisions of the Speedy Trial Act can be triggered by ... ’any restraint resulting from federal action.’ ” Ante at 596 (quoting Lee, 818 F.2d at 305). The majority gets around this language by saying that there was no federal action here. There was federal action, however, when the U.S. Marshal lodged a detainer with state authorities, authorizing them to keep Woolfolk in custody if state process ended. Once Wool-folk’s custody on the state charges ended on April 10, 2003, his continued “restraint” in the state jail “resulted] from federal action,” specifically, the federal detainer.
The majority suggests that there can be no qualifying federal action unless the government somehow “knew or should have known that the defendant was restrained solely to answer federal charges.” Ante at 596. The government might not have known that Woolfolk was being held pursuant to the federal detainer after April 10, but it knew enough (by reason of its own actions) to be responsible for his detention after that date. The government filed the detainer secure in the knowledge that the detainer would serve to hold Woolfolk in custody if the state charges against him were disposed of. The majority says, however, that we cannot charge a prisoner’s detention to the government unless it knows that the detainer has kicked in. Otherwise, according to the majority, we would be “imposing] a form of strict liability upon the Government for actions taken by independent sovereigns.” Ante at 596. Virginia did not reach its detention decision independently, however. The entire process began with federal action, the filing of a detainer, which authorized the state to continue custody on behalf of the federal government. The’ filing of the de-tainer was a conscious act, signifying the government’s intention to authorize the state to act on its behalf. Because the government took the intentional step of authorizing the state to act on its behalf, the government would not be held strictly liable for some totally independent action taken by the state. If we do not charge the.time Woolfolk was held under the federal detainer to the government, we allow the government to enjoy -the advantages of the detainer system without taking any responsibility.
The majority also attempts to justify its knowledge rule on the basis of “the breadth of the [federal] Government’s criminal prosecutions and what must be the sheer number of federal detainers lodged with state authorities.” Ante at 596.1 am willing to accept that there are a fair number of federal detainers lodged against unsentenced prisoners in state custody. But I also expect it is fairly rare for state authorities to fail to notify the federal government that a state prisoner subject to a federal detainer is about to be free of state custody. States have every incentive to provide timely notification. In light of the costs and responsibilities of housing prisoners,- state jailers are no doubt eager to transfer the custody of a prisoner subject to a federal detainer at the earliest possible, moment. It appears that Woolfolk fell through the cracks, and the question is whether the federal government must be held responsible for the delay in his indictment. The majority is correct to point out that “administration of justice” concerns should be taken into account. But Congress has made the judg*601ment, by its enactment of the Speedy Trial Act and the Interstate Agreement on De-tainers Act, that justice is best served by prompt indictment and trial. There is no room to excuse the government for the delay when a defendant languishes in jail as a result of the government’s detainer. I would have the district court determine on remand whether Virginia continued to hold Woolfolk solely because of the federal detainer. If it did, Woolfolk’^ Speedy Trial Act rights were violated, and the court should decide whether to dismiss the indictment with or without prejudice. See 18 U.S.C. § 3162(a).