United States v. Wallace McElwee Sanders

Sanders was indicted on two counts of theft and one count of conspiracy to steal goods in foreign shipment. The first count related to a theft that at an earlier date had resulted in a one count complaint being issued against Sanders. The federal authorities, shortly after the one count complaint, had lodged a detainer against Sanders, then an inmate in state prison. In response to Sanders’ speedy trial request made pursuant to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (IADA), 18 U.S.C. Appendix Art. 111(a), the earlier one count complaint was dismissed and the detainer was removed.

Prior to trial on the three count indictment from which this appeal is taken, the trial court dismissed the first count. Sanders was convicted on the other two counts. Sanders appeals the district court’s refusal to dismiss the latter two counts along with the first. We affirm.

Sanders would have this court apply the one-hundred and eighty day time limit provided in Article 111(a) not only to charges pending at the time a defendant files a speedy trial request, but also to subsequently filed charges for related offenses, which the prosecutor, at the time it lodged its detainer, had reason to believe…