Order Michigan Supreme Court
Lansing, Michigan
September 21, 2007 Clifford W. Taylor,
Chief Justice
133897 & (55) Michael F. Cavanagh
Elizabeth A. Weaver
Marilyn Kelly
Maura D. Corrigan
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, Robert P. Young, Jr.
Plaintiff-Appellee, Stephen J. Markman,
Justices
v SC: 133897
COA: 268499
Wayne CC: 05-010897-01
KOBEAY QURAN SWAFFORD,
Defendant-Appellant.
_________________________________________/
On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the March 27, 2007
judgment of the Court of Appeals is considered and, pursuant to MCR 7.302(G)(1), in
lieu of granting leave to appeal, we VACATE the judgment of the Court of Appeals and
we REMAND this case to the Court of Appeals for reconsideration of the Interstate
Agreement on Detainers issue in light of the documentation that the defendant attaches to
his application for leave to appeal and motion in this Court. In all other respects, leave to
appeal is DENIED, because we are not persuaded that the remaining question presented
should be reviewed by this Court. The motion for miscellaneous relief is DENIED.
We further DIRECT the Court of Appeals to first REMAND this case to the
Wayne Circuit Court, in accordance with Administrative Order 2003-03, so that the
circuit court can determine whether the defendant is indigent and, if so, to appoint
counsel to represent the defendant in the Court of Appeals.
CORRIGAN, J., concurs and states as follows:
I concur with the order remanding this case to the Court of Appeals for
reconsideration of the issue concerning the Interstate Agreement on Detainers (IAD),
MCL 780.601 et seq. I write separately to raise the following questions that the case
presents: (1) Was the panel correct that People v Monasterski, 105 Mich App 645
(1981), and People v Wilden (On Rehearing), 197 Mich App 533 (1992), hold that “a
detainer filed against a jail inmate before he begins serving a prison sentence is
insufficient to implicate the IAD,” and, if so, (2) are the holdings in Monasterski and
Wilden consistent with the language of article III of the IAD?
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I
In Monasterski, supra at 653, the Court of Appeals, citing the purpose of the IAD,
the language of article IV of the IAD, and Anno: Validity, construction, and application
of interstate agreement on detainers, 98 ALR3d 160, 185, explained that in order to
trigger the IAD, the prisoner must be “actually serving a term of imprisonment in the
sending state.” The panel held that the IAD did not apply in that case because the
defendants were being held in jail in Indiana pending extradition and had not embarked
on a program of rehabilitation when the detainer was lodged. Monasterski, supra at 653.
Although the defendants were tried and sentenced after the detainer was lodged, it
appears that the defendants were never imprisoned in Indiana before being sent to
Michigan on the detainer; they were merely held in an Indiana jail pending extradition.
Similarly in Wilden, supra at 539, the Court of Appeals held that the IAD did not apply
because at the time the detainer was filed, the defendant had not “entered upon a term of
imprisonment,” but was merely a parolee awaiting a hearing on his parole revocation.
The defendant never entered upon a term of imprisonment before his transfer to Michigan
on the detainer.
Because the defendants in Monasterski and Wilden never began terms of
imprisonment before being extradited on the detainers, it appears that those holdings
apply only in cases in which the defendant was not imprisoned when he sent to the
prosecutor written notice of his place of imprisonment and a request for final disposition
of the indictment, information, or complaint. Article III(a) clearly requires that the
defendant be imprisoned at the time he causes the notice to be delivered to the prosecutor.
MCL 780.601 (The 180-day period of the IAD applies “[w]henever a person has entered
upon a term of imprisonment . . . .”). See also People v Butcher, 46 Mich App 40, 44-45
(1973) (“[T]he interstate agreement requires that a person have entered on a term of
imprisonment in a prison in a state a party to the agreement when the required notice is
given . . . .”). In the instant case, defendant was imprisoned in the federal system after
the alleged detainer was lodged. During his imprisonment, he caused written notice of
the place of his imprisonment to be delivered to the prosecutor. Thus, Monasterski and
Wilden may be distinguishable from the instant case.
II
If on remand the Court of Appeals again interprets Monasterski and Wilden to
mean that the IAD is never implicated when the detainer was filed against a person
before he begins his term of imprisonment, then the holdings of Monasterski and Wilden
appear contrary to the language of article III of the IAD. Article III(a) of the IAD
provides that the 180-day period applies “whenever during the continuance of the term of
imprisonment there is pending in any other party state any untried indictment,
information or complaint on the basis of which a detainer has been lodged against the
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prisoner . . . .” (Emphasis added.) The use of the phrase “has been lodged” in article III
seems to mean that the detainer could have been lodged before the defendant was
imprisoned. In other words, under article III(a), the IAD applies when a defendant who
enters into a term of imprisonment has had a detainer lodged against him, whether the
detainer was lodged before or during the defendant’s imprisonment. This interpretation
is consistent with the language of articles I and IV of the IAD. Nothing in the IAD
suggests that the detainer must have been lodged while the defendant was imprisoned
before the IAD applies. Thus, application of the IAD appears broader under the plain
language of article III than it is under the Court of Appeals interpretation of Monasterski
and Wilden.
If the Court of Appeals determines that Monasterski and Wilden are applicable but
were wrongly decided, then the panel must address whether the prosecutor properly
relied on those cases, which were the governing law at the time. Even if the Court of
Appeals determines that Monasterski and Wilder are distinguishable, any holding by the
Court of Appeals that the IAD applies even when the detainer was lodged before the
defendant’s imprisonment would be a novel interpretation of article III. Such a holding
would broaden the previous interpretation of the application of the IAD. Because
prosecutors up to this point have reasonably relied on the narrower application of the IAD
under Monasterski and Wilder, the panel should consider whether to give such a holding
limited retroactive effect. See People v Williams, 475 Mich 245, 255 (2006).
I, Corbin R. Davis, Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court, certify that the
foregoing is a true and complete copy of the order entered at the direction of the Court.
September 21, 2007 _________________________________________
p0918 Clerk