SHARON G. LEE, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which GARY R. WADE, C.J., JANICE M. HOLDER, CORNELIA A. CLARK, and WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., JJ., joined.
In this appeal, we interpret the meaning of the phrase "term of imprisonment" in Articles III and IV of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers ("IAD"), Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 40-31-101 to -108 (2006), and determine whether the defendant is entitled to relief under the IAD. The IAD, a compact between state and federal jurisdictions, provides cooperative procedures for the exchange of prisoners between state and federal jurisdictions so that prisoners can be brought to trial on untried indictments or complaints. Under Article III of the IAD, a prisoner serving a term of imprisonment may request a trial within 180 days after being delivered to another state. Under Article IV of the IAD, an official of one jurisdiction may seek custody of a prisoner serving a term of imprisonment in another jurisdiction, but the prisoner must be tried within 120 days of arrival in that jurisdiction and cannot be "shuttled" back to the original place of imprisonment before the trial. The IAD mandates a dismissal of the indictment for a violation of either Article III or IV. The defendant in this case was arrested on related federal and state charges and taken into federal custody. After the defendant was tried and convicted in federal court, he was indicted by the grand jury in Gibson County on the related state charges. Before being sentenced in federal court, the defendant filed a demand for speedy disposition of the state charges under Article III of the IAD. While the defendant was confined at a federal temporary detention facility after his sentencing in federal court, the Gibson County Sheriff filed a detainer and transported the defendant to Gibson County for an arraignment. After counsel was appointed and the defendant was arraigned, he was transferred back into federal custody. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss the state indictment for violations of Articles III and IV of the IAD. The trial court denied the motion. The defendant entered a conditional guilty plea pursuant to Tenn. R.Crim. P. 11 and reserved a certified question of law seeking appellate review of the denial of the motion to dismiss because of the alleged violation of the IAD. The Court of Criminal Appeals, in a divided opinion, affirmed the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion to dismiss. See State v. Springer, No. W2010-02153-CCA-R3-CD,
In August 2006, Michael Shane Springer ("Defendant") was arrested on related federal and state charges. While awaiting trial, Defendant was confined in the West Tennessee Detention Facility, a federal temporary detention facility, in Mason, Tennessee. On April 11, 2007, Defendant pleaded guilty to three federal charges. On May 7, 2007, a Gibson County Grand Jury returned a multi-count indictment against Defendant. After Defendant learned of the Gibson County indictment from a federal public defender, Defendant filed a pro se demand for speedy disposition
On August 27, 2007, the Gibson County Sheriff lodged a detainer against Defendant.
On December 7, 2009, Defendant filed a motion to dismiss the indictment based on violations of provisions in Articles III and IV of the IAD imposing deadlines for trial and prohibiting a return of a prisoner before trial (the "anti-shuttling provisions"). After hearing evidence and oral arguments, the trial court denied Defendant's motion to dismiss. Defendant entered into
The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Defendant's conviction; however, each member of the panel expressed a different view. See State v. Springer, No. W2010-02153-CCA-R3-CD, 2012 WL 603820, at *1 (Tenn.Crim.App. Feb. 16, 2012). Judge Bivins held that the certified question of law was adequate for review; that Defendant's request for relief under Article III was procedurally deficient; and that Defendant was not entitled to relief under Article IV because he was not serving a term of imprisonment at the temporary federal facility when he was transferred to Gibson County on August 30, 2007. Judge Woodall agreed that Defendant was not entitled to relief under Article III, but he would have granted relief under Article IV because, in his view, Defendant was serving a term of imprisonment when he was transferred to Gibson County from the temporary federal facility because he had been sentenced in federal court. Judge Glenn agreed that the conviction should be affirmed because Defendant's certified question did not properly present the issues for appeal and, as a result, the Court of Criminal Appeals lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal.
We granted Defendant's Tenn. R.App. P. 11 application for permission to appeal and consider the following questions: (1) whether Defendant properly reserved the certified question of law; and (2) whether Defendant is entitled to relief based on violations of Article III and Article IV of the IAD.
When entering his guilty plea, Defendant reserved the following certified question of law:
Under Tenn. R.Crim. P. 37(b)(2), a defendant may plead guilty and appeal a certified question of law that is dispositive of the case as long as certain conditions are met.
The State argues that Defendant's certified question of law did not identify "clearly the scope and limits of the legal issue reserved" as required by Rule 37(b)(2)(A)(ii). Although Defendant's certified question would have benefitted from the incorporation of more fact-specific references, we hold the substance of the question nevertheless satisfies our jurisdictional requirements and that the issue of whether the State violated the anti-shuttling provisions of the IAD in light of Bozeman is properly before this Court. Cf. State v. Colzie, No. M1998-00253-CCA-R3-CD, 1999 WL 1074111, at *3 (Tenn.Crim.App. Nov. 30, 1999) (holding that a certified question was sufficient when it was "evident that [the] statement of the issue [reflected] the grounds for suppression that Defendant asserted at the trial court," even though it could have been more precisely drafted); State v. Harris, 919 S.W.2d 619, 621 (Tenn.Crim.App.1995) (holding that even though "[t]he issue is not framed according to what might be referred to as standard `law-school' format," Preston only requires that a certified question "clearly identify the scope and limits of the legal issues reserved").
Tennessee, forty-seven other states,
Under the IAD, a "state," which is defined by Article II(c) to include a state of the United States, the United States, a territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, may function as either a "sending state" or a "receiving state." See Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. II(a), (b). The sending state is the jurisdiction where the prisoner is incarcerated at the time he or she makes a request for disposition under Article III or when an appropriate official in another IAD jurisdiction requests the prisoner's transfer under Article IV. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. II(b). The receiving state is the jurisdiction in which trial is to be had on a pending indictment, information, or complaint pursuant to Article III or Article IV. Tenn. Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. II(a). The IAD governs transfer of a prisoner from custody of one state to another, federal custody to state custody, and state custody to federal custody, even where the transfer is within the same geographic state. See 18 U.S.C. app. 2, art. I; Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. I; United States v. Schrum, 504 F.Supp. 23, 25 (D.Kan.1980). The IAD is not applicable to the transfer of a prisoner from one federal district to another. See United States v. Stoner, 799 F.2d 1253, 1256 (9th Cir.1986). The IAD only applies to prisoners serving a term of imprisonment — thus it is not applicable to pretrial detainees. See State v. Lock, 839 S.W.2d 436, 444 (Tenn.Crim.App.1992); see also United States v. Taylor, 173 F.3d 538, 541 (6th Cir.1999) (citing United States v. Roberts, 548 F.2d 665, 669-71 (6th Cir.1977) (per curiam)), abrogated in part by Bozeman, 533 U.S. at 153-56, 121 S.Ct. 2079; United States v. Muniz, 1 F.3d 1018, 1026 (10th Cir.1993); Felix v. United States, 508 A.2d 101, 106 (D.C.1986).
The IAD, enacted by Congress pursuant to United States Constitution, art. I, § 10, cl. 3, is a federal law that is subject to authoritative construction by the Supreme Court of the United States. See Cuyler v. Adams, 449 U.S. 433, 438, 101 S.Ct. 703, 66 L.Ed.2d 641 (1981). We are bound by the Supreme Court of the United States' construction of the terms of this agreement. See In re All Assessments, 67 S.W.3d 805, 818-19 (Tenn.Ct.App.2001). The IAD is remedial in nature and must be liberally construed in favor of the prisoners whom it was intended to protect. See Nelms v. State, 532 S.W.2d 923, 927 (Tenn.1976) (citing Commonwealth v. Fisher, 451 Pa. 102, 301 A.2d 605, 607 (1973)); see also 18 U.S.C. app. II, art. IX; Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. IX; Dillon, 844 S.W.2d at 141.
Our interpretation of the language of the IAD involves statutory construction.
Under Article III,
Defendant's claim for relief under Article III fails for several reasons. First, Article III only applies to persons who are serving a term of imprisonment. When Defendant filed his demand for speedy disposition, he was a pretrial detainee because he had been convicted, but not sentenced, by the federal court. The IAD is not applicable to a pretrial detainee because the prisoner is not serving a term of imprisonment. See Lock, 839 S.W.2d at 444; see also Taylor, 173 F.3d at 541; Roberts, 548 F.2d at 670-71; Muniz, 1 F.3d at 1026; Felix, 508 A.2d at 106. Second, Article III only applies after a detainer has been lodged against the prisoner by the receiving state. Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. III(a). Defendant filed his demand for speedy disposition before a detainer was placed against him by the State of Tennessee. Finally, Defendant filed his demand for speedy disposition with the circuit court clerk instead of delivering it to the appropriate prison official to forward to the clerk. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. III(b)-(e); Moore, 774 S.W.2d at 595; see also Wood, 924 S.W.2d at 344 n. 6. Accordingly, Defendant is not entitled to relief under Article III.
Article IV
Whether Defendant is entitled to relief under Article IV hinges on our interpretation of the phrase "term of imprisonment." This is an issue of first impression for this Court. If Defendant was serving a term of imprisonment at the federal temporary detention facility on August 30, 2007, when he was transferred pursuant to a detainer from federal custody to Gibson County and back to federal custody, then the anti-shuttling provision of Article IV was violated and dismissal of the indictment is required.
A split of authority exists as to whether the IAD applies to a convicted and sentenced prisoner who is held in temporary custody pending a transfer to permanent incarceration. See Runck v. State, 497 N.W.2d 74, 81 (N.D.1993) (describing this split of authority and surveying cases from numerous jurisdictions that have reached different conclusions); 5 Wayne R. LaFave et al., Criminal Procedure § 18.4(c) (3d ed.2007). The State urges this Court to follow the holding in Jenkins v. United States, 394 F.3d 407, 413 (6th Cir.2005), where the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit determined that the IAD was not applicable to a sentenced prisoner who was transferred on several occasions from a county jail to federal court for pretrial proceedings and then back to the county jail. Relying on its holding in Taylor, 173 F.3d at 541, the court ruled that a prisoner begins serving a term of imprisonment when he or she is "transferred to the `state facility to which [the prisoner] is ultimately assigned, not the local facility in which [the prisoner] sits awaiting transfer to that facility.'" Id. at 413.
Taylor involved a prisoner, previously sentenced on state charges, who was transported multiple times from a county jail to federal custody and returned to the county jail before the prisoner was tried in federal court. See Taylor, 173 F.3d at 540-41. The Sixth Circuit rejected the prisoner's claim that this treatment violated the IAD because it found that the prisoner had been in a "local facility" awaiting a transfer to a "correctional facility." Id. at 541. The court reasoned that the local facility did not offer rehabilitative programs that would have been interrupted by the prisoner's temporary transfer. Id. The Taylor court also held that even if a "term of imprisonment" commenced at sentencing, "quick, temporary transfers do not violate the IAD." Id. at 541-42 (citing Taylor v. United States, 504 U.S. 991, 112 S.Ct. 2982, 119 L.Ed.2d 599 (1992) (White, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari)).
Much of the legal foundation of the Taylor rule was abrogated by the Supreme Court of the United States' holding in Bozeman, 533 U.S. 146, 121 S.Ct. 2079. In Bozeman, the Supreme Court held that "every prisoner arrival in the receiving state, whether followed by a very brief stay or a very long stay in the receiving state, triggers [Article] IV(e)'s `no return' requirement." 533 U.S. at 154, 121 S.Ct. 2079. The Supreme Court reasoned that
Jurisdictions that apply the same analysis as the Jenkins and Taylor courts regard sentenced prisoners awaiting transfer to a permanent institution as having the same status as pretrial detainees to whom the IAD does not apply. The rationale for this view is that, because it is designed to guard against interruption of prison rehabilitative programs, the IAD should not apply to prisoners in temporary facilities where rehabilitation programs are not available. See, e.g., Crooker v. United States, 814 F.2d 75, 77 (1st Cir.1987) (declining to apply the IAD to a prisoner who had been sentenced but not transferred to the correctional facility to commence service); United States v. Paige, 332 F.Supp.2d 467, 472 (D.R.I.2004) (holding that because the stated purpose of the IAD is to prevent interference with a prisoner's rehabilitative environment, there is no reason for the IAD to apply to a prisoner until he or she is assigned to the institution where the sentence will be served); State v. Fay, 763 So.2d 473, 475-76 (Fla. Dist.Ct.App.2000) (holding the IAD inapplicable to a prisoner at a temporary holding facility and noting that while there may be "an occasional case in which a [prisoner] awaiting transfer is involved in rehabilitative programs offered at the local facility, such rehabilitation efforts themselves ultimately would be disrupted by that prisoner's transfer to his permanent correctional residence"); State v. Breen, 126 Idaho 305, 882 P.2d 472, 475 (Ct.App. 1994) (holding the IAD was not applicable to a prisoner, who had been sentenced, but was incarcerated in a local jail or holding facility while awaiting transfer to the assigned penal institution); State v. Wade, 105 Nev. 206, 772 P.2d 1291, 1294 (1989) ("The very programs of prisoner treatment and rehabilitation whose obstruction the IAD was intended to prevent are not present in jails. Permitting prisoners sentenced to jails to invoke the IAD's Article III(a) provisions, therefore, would be meaningless."). But see Bozeman, 533 U.S. at 153, 121 S.Ct. 2079 (holding that the language of the IAD is mandatory and absolute); Nelms, 532 S.W.2d at 927 (holding that dismissal under Article V(c) was necessary to achieve general compliance with the statutory mandate and not to protect the prisoner from being prejudiced if his trial was delayed for more than 180 days after demand).
Defendant argues that the IAD applies to prisoners who have been sentenced and
A number of courts have reached a similar conclusion. See United States v. Dobson, 585 F.2d 55, 58-59 (3d Cir.1978) (holding that the "natural meaning of the phrase `serving a term of imprisonment' denotes no more or less than that definable period of time during which a prisoner must be confined in order to complete or satisfy the Prison term or sentence which has been ordered"); United States v. Small, 209 F.Supp.2d 1114, 1120-21 (D.Colo.2002) (holding that it is inconsistent with the purpose of the IAD to deny its protections to a sentenced prisoner who serves time, no matter how lengthy, in a temporary facility); United States v. Evans, No. 1:08CR00024-006, 2008 WL 3834089, at *3 (W.D.Va. Aug. 15, 2008) (holding that the government's argument that the IAD did not apply because the prisoner had not been assigned to a permanent facility was not persuasive in light of the Supreme Court's holding in Bozeman), recommendation adopted by United States v. King, No. 1:08CR00024-6, 2008 WL 4319734, at *1 (W.D.Va. Sept. 12, 2008); Escalanti v. Superior Court, 165 Ariz. 385, 799 P.2d 5, 9 (Ct.App.1990) (holding that inmates in Arizona jails and prisons cannot be treated differently based on a distinction between the rehabilitative programs available in the two types of institutions); People v. Walton, 167 P.3d 163, 166 (Colo.App.2007) (holding that a "term of imprisonment" begins at the time a prisoner is sentenced); People v. Helmstetter, 914 P.2d 474, 478 (Colo.App. 1995) (holding that the language of the statute, and the court's duty to apply the statute as written, requires the court to interpret the statute to apply when the prisoner is sentenced, without regard to the institution where the prisoner is incarcerated after the sentencing); State v. Black, 989 N.E.2d 151, 156 (Ohio Ct.App. 2013) (holding that the IAD applies to prisoners held in county jails as well as state penal or correctional facilities); see also 18 U.S.C. § 3585(a) (2006) ("A sentence to a term of imprisonment commences on the date the [prisoner] is received in custody awaiting transportation to ... the official detention facility at which the sentence is to be served.").
The anti-shuttling provision of Article IV of the IAD was violated when Defendant was transferred, pursuant to a detainer, from federal custody to state custody and back to federal custody on August 30, 2007 before he was tried on the charges pending in Gibson County. Pursuant to Article IV(e) of the IAD, the state indictment must be dismissed with prejudice.
The judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is reversed, the conviction is vacated, and the indictment against Michael Shane Springer is dismissed with prejudice.
Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. III (emphasis added).
Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-31-101, art. IV (emphasis added).