Court Opinion

ID: 9870947
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-26 20:12:03.679515+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:46:12.172791
License: Public Domain

LEWIS, J:
CONCUR IN PART, DISSENT IN PART
¶ 1 I dissent to the Order’s decision to overrule Ullery v. State, 1999 OK CR 36, 988 P.2d 332. Ullery sets forth the three methods of time computation under the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (IAD). When adopting the IAD, the legislature was silent regarding the issues discussed in Ullery, therefore, this Court was required to adopt a method of time computation. Since our decision in Ullery, the legislature has not acted in contravention of our decision. I would find this inaction to be an affirmation of our interpretation of the statute.1
¶2 The time computation found in Matthews v. Kentucky, 168 S.W.3d 14 (Ky. 2005), is just a different interpretation of the same statute in that jurisdiction and is not binding-on this Court. In fact, we addressed, in Ul-lery, the same three time computations discussed in Matthews. Neither New York v. Hill, 528 U.S. 110, 120 S.Ct. 659, 145 L.Ed.2d 560 (2000), nor Matthews address new legal issues regarding time computation. The remaining historical justifications for .overruling Ullery are neither persuasive, nor based on any factual or legal authority.
¶ 3 Despite my disagreement with the Order’s treatment of Ullery, I find that Petitioner’s extraordinary writ must be denied. *1289Time constraints of the IAD can be waived. Skinner v. State, 2009 OK CR 19, ¶ 34, 210 P.3d 840, 853. When the 120 day time limit required by Ullery is applied to Petitioner’s case, it becomes clear that Petitioner waived his rights under the IAD.2
¶ 4 Petitioner waived the protections of the IAD at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing on July 11, 2016. Petitioner and his attorney stood silent when his District Court Arraignment was set for August 8, 2016, a date beyond the 120 day limit of July 23, 2016. The IAD does not create a constitutional right, thus a knowing and voluntary waiver of the protections of the IAD is not necessary. Yellen v. Cooper, 828 F.2d 1471, 1474 (10th Cir. 1987).
¶ 5 Petitioner’s inaction when the arraignment was set on a date inconsistent with the IAD’s time limits, constituted a waiver of the protection of the IAD. Petitioner’s explicit waiver was unnecessary in this case. The Court in Hill, while not discussing time computation, held that “given the harsh remedy of dismissal with prejudice,” willingly accepting treatment inconsistent with the IAD’s time limits constitutes waiver. Hill, 528 U.S. at 118, 120 S.Ct. at 666. The waiver analysis in Hill is applicable in this case.
¶ 6 Petitioner’s last minute motion for speedy trial, filed two days prior to the expiration date, does not nullify his waiver. Once Petitioner waived the protections of the IAD, he could no longer reassert the protections, as his waiver constitutes a bar to asserting the IAD protections at a later date. Because of Petitioner’s waiver, the State is no longer under a time limitation for the prosecution of this case, other than constitutional and/or other statutory speedy trial concerns.
¶7 For these reasons, I concur in the denial of Petitioner’s application for an extraordinary writ, but dissent to overruling Ullery.

. The general rule is that "when a construction has been placed upon a statute by the highest court having jurisdiction to fix its meaning, such construction becomes a part of the statute as if it had been written into it originally." Berryman v. State, 1955 OK CR 51, 283 P.2d 558, 566 (opinion on rehearing); see also Olstad v. Microsoft, 284 Wis.2d 224, 700 N.W.2d 139, 145 (2005). While legislative inaction is not necessarily legislative affirmation, we can assume that the legislature is aware of this Court's interpretation of a statute, and that its subsequent inaction may be interpreted as a validation of that interpretation. See Bob Jones Univ. v. United States, 461 U.S. 574, 600-01, 103 S.Ct. 2017, 2033, 76 L.Ed.2d 157 (1983).

. Petitioner does not identify a date on which his trial was to have commenced under the IAD.