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Arapahoe County District Court No. 15CR3031. Honorable
Natalie T. Chase, Judge.
COUNSEL:
Philip
J. Weiser, Attorney General, Brock J. Swanson, Assistant
Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Tara
N. Jorfald, Alternate Defense Counsel, Lakewood, Colorado,
for Defendant-Appellant.
Fox and
Welling, JJ., concur.
OPINION
FREYRE,
JUDGE.
Page 570
[¶1] In this statutory interpretation case,
we are asked to decide whether the right to a speedy
disposition guaranteed by the Uniform Mandatory
Disposition of Detainers Act (UMDDA), §§ 16-14-101 to
-108, C.R.S. 2018, can be waived by counsel or whether a
defendant must personally waive this right. We hold that this
statutory right may be waived by counsel and that counsel may
also waive the required statutory advisement of rights. We
further hold that when the defendant is present for
counsel's waiver and does not voice an objection to it,
he cannot later complain that his UMDDA rights were violated.
[¶2] Defendant, Joshua Theodore Yakas,
appeals the trial court's order denying his motion to
dismiss his criminal case for violation of the UMDDA. We
affirm.
I.
Background
[¶3] In October 2015, the police arrested
Mr. Yakas for violating parole in an unrelated case. While
incarcerated, the state charged him, on November 3, 2015,
with three counts of enticement of a child, three counts of
attempted inducement of child prostitution, three counts of
attempted sexual assault on a child, three counts of indecent
exposure - (third or subsequent offense), and habitual
criminality. Mr. Yakas appeared with court-appointed counsel
at his first appearance on November 9, 2015. After waiving
his right to a speedy preliminary hearing twice, Mr. Yakas
proceeded to a preliminary hearing on January 13, 2016. The
court found probable cause and bound the case over for
arraignment on February 19, 2016. On February 19, the parties
agreed to continue arraignment to April 29, 2016.
[¶4] On February 29, 2016, Mr. Yakas filed a
pro se " Petition for Speedy Disposition Under [the
UMDDA]." As relevant here, paragraph four of the pro se
petition states:
4. The defendant, does not waive any rights of limits set
forth under or in this act. If, at any time, the defendant
chooses to waive any of these, it shall be himself, not
through council [sic], by explicitly stating, in writing for
the court or in open court, that he, knowingly,
intentionally, and voluntarily waives his right under this
act.
[¶5] Upon receiving the petition, the court
rescheduled arraignment for March 25, 2016. As well, on March
17, 2016, counsel for Mr. Yakas sent the following email to
the court and the district attorney:
I just wanted to let everyone know that Mr. Yakas is going to
be withdrawing the detainer and we will be asking that the
April 29 arraignment date remain. We're fine with Mr.
Yakas being brought in on 3/25 to do that on the record.
Additionally, Mr. Yakas has been held at the Arapahoe County
Jail, so unless he is going to be moved, we do not need a
writ prepared.
Page 571
[¶6] When Mr. Yakas refused to appear on
March 25, defense counsel explained that Mr. Yakas was "
confused about the court date" and asked that the matter
be reset for March 31, 2016, " because he's going to
withdraw that detainer [sic]."
[¶7] Mr. Yakas appeared with counsel on
March 31. The trial court asked whether " [defendant]
was going to withdraw th[e] request [for speedy disposition]
and . . . wanted to keep the arraignment date that we
currently had set of April 29th." Counsel responded,
" That is correct." The court then asked, " Do
you wish any further advisement on the record with respect to
Mr. Yakas's withdrawal of request for speedy
detainer?" Both defense counsel and the district
attorney responded, " No." Mr. Yakas remained
silent. The trial court then found that the request for
speedy disposition had been withdrawn and continued the
matter to the April arraignment date.
[¶8] After several continued arraignments,
made at the defense's request, Mr. Yakas entered a not
guilty plea on August 1, 2016. But the parties eventually
reached a disposition, and on December 15, 2016, Mr. Yakas
pleaded guilty to several counts in exchange for the
dismissal of the remaining counts and a stipulated sentence
of twenty years in the custody of the ...