(BJA) Drug Court Clearinghouse Justice Programs Office, School of Public Affairs American University
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Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Drug Court Clearinghouse Justice Programs Office, School of Public Affairs American University Excerpts from Selected Opinions of Federal, State and Tribal Courts Relevant to Drug court Programs June 2015 DECISION SUMMARIES BY ISSUE AND JURISDICTION VOLUME ONE: DECISION SUMMARIES BY ISSUE [Preliminary/Partial Update] Compiled by: Caroline S. Cooper, Director BJA Drug Court Clearinghouse and Technical Assistance Project This report was prepared by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Drug Court Clearinghouse and Technical Assistance Project at American University, Washington D.C. These projects are supported by Grant Nos. 95-DC- MX-KOO2, 98-NU-VX-K018, 2002-DC-BX-K013, 2005-DC-BX-K047, 2007-DC-BX K003, 2009-DC-BX-K0022, and 2012-DC-BX-K005 awarded initially by the Drug courts Program Office and, subsequently, by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Excerpts from Selected Opinions of Federal, State and Tribal Courts Relevant to Drug Court Programs: Decision Summaries. Volume One: Decision Summaries By Issue. BJA Drug Court Clearinghouse. American University. June 2015. [Preliminary/Partial Update] FOREWORD This Compilation of selected federal, state and tribal court decisions relating to drug courts has been prepared and updated annually by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Drug Court Clearinghouse and Technical Assistance Project at American University to highlight legal issues which are being raised relating to drug court programs. The current Compilation covers appellate court rulings on drug court cases1 issued through December 31, 2014 with a partial update to reflect selected case opinions published through June 2015. A more comprehensive update with case decisions for the full 2015 calendar period will be published in December 2015. The cases reported address a wide range of topics, ranging from constitutional issues (i.e., the application of due process rights to various aspects of drug court program operations), to sentencing issues (i.e., whether incarceration as a sanction entitles an unsuccessful drug court participant to time served credit in his/her sentence), to policy issues (i.e., who has authority to determine drug court eligibility). Case citations are provided for further reference. Several cases decided during the past year and referenced in this Compilation desire particular note: Sykes, decided in December 2014 by the Supreme Court of Washington, addressed the issue of whether staffings should be open to the public under Washington’s Open Meeting Statute and held that they were not subject to the provisions of that statute. “Public access to staffings [would] interfere with a key feature of drug courts;” Easley, decided by the Supreme Court of Idaho, found error in the District Court’s sentencing process when the Court determined that the prosecutor had an absolute right to veto the court’s desired decision to sentence Easley to the mental health court; and Plouffe, decided by the Supreme Court of Montana in July 2014, holding that confidential information disclosed during the course of participation in drug treatment court cannot be used as a basis for prosecution of a new offense. Several other cases which will be reported in the December 2015 Caselaw update, including those relating to a class action suit by drug court participants in Clark County, Indiana arising out of extended periods of incarceration in violation of a range of constitutional rights and judicial oversight, and a federal lawsuit filed against the state of Kentucky for its practice of prohibiting opiate addicts from receiving Medicated Assisted Treatment while under the supervision of the criminal justice system. The case summaries are organized in two volumes: Volume One provides a summary of these cases by issue addressed; Volume Two presents a summary of the cases compiled by jurisdiction. Although in many instances only the principal holding is reported, in some instances a fuller excerpt from the opinion is included to provide the rationale for the decision where appropriate. As will be noted, for some topics the caselaw reflects a greater consensus than for others. Even within states, the caselaw is evolving and not necessarily following a consistent direction. A large number of the case decisions address the appropriateness of various procedural elements of drug court program operations, particularly the voluntariness of agreements to participate, the implications of plea and other agreements required for program entry on the subsequent disposition of the case, including sentencing, and the legal requirements for terminating a participant’s enrollment. A number of these cases each year also 1 Only cases specifically referencing a drug court are included in this Compilation. Cases that may have relevance but do not specifically address a claim arising out of the operations of a drug court program are not included. ___________________________________________________________________________ Excerpts from Selected Opinions of Federal, State and Tribal Courts Relevant to Drug Court Programs: Decision Summaries. Volume One: Decision Summaries By Issue. BJA Drug Court and Technical Assistance Project. American University. June 2015. [Preliminary/Partial Update] ii involve allegations of the denial of effective counsel which, up to this point, courts have generally dismissed on the grounds of failure to assert prejudice, premised generally upon a Strickland2 analysis. “To prevail on a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must be able to show deficient performance by counsel and prejudice. …A defendant's bare assertion of incompetent advice by counsel is not enough to establish deficient performance, as required for ineffective assistance of counsel…”3 While the large volume of caselaw that is developing regarding drug courts precludes inclusion of all cases in this Compilation, it should be noted that challenges to the legitimacy of drug court program requirements and operations are generally being dismissed at the appellate court level – often with reference to the program’s operational manual, forms, or related documents or to the trial court record – or lack thereof indicating any objection-- and the drug court procedures upheld. Other aspects of drug court procedures, however, have not necessarily been consistently upheld, particularly those relating to challenges as to the legal sufficiency of guilty pleas entered as a prerequisite for drug court participation and the right of a defendant to withdraw a guilty plea premised on drug court participation if he/she is subsequently deemed ineligible. The present volume includes a new section referencing eight cases relating to Veterans Treatment Courts, generally focusing on issues relating to eligibility. The following issues noted in previous compilations continue to deserve particular note: First: FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT DEFERRAL TO STATE DRUG COURT FOR PROCEEDING WITH HANDLING DRUG OFFENSE. Following United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), which made the federal sentencing guidelines largely advisory,” the issue of whether it is appropriate for federal sentencing judges to consider the disparity between state and federal sentences had become critical in some cases. It had been suggested that consideration during sentencing of “the disparity between state and federal sentences ... [would] help alleviate both the disparity [between state and federal sentences] and the concern that the federal courts are overwhelmed with matters that can and should be tried in the states.” With these considerations, the January 2007 (post Booker) decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (United States District Court, E.D. New York) in United States of America, v. Robert Scott Brennan, Defendant. No. 96-CR-793(JBW) suspended charges against Brennan for violations of his federal supervised release conditions and permitted his state drug possession charges to go forward in a state drug court treatment program. “…Given the difference between the Federal and the New York State systems with regard to the assistance available to some offenders with substance abuse problems, the fact that the defendant has completed a detoxification program and is willing to be monitored in a state drug treatment program, family considerations, and the likelihood of more effective treatment out of as compared to in prison, justice would be better served within the state system….” Second: THE RECURRING AND UNSUCCESSFUL “EQUAL PROTECTION” CHALLENGES RAISED BY OTHERWISE ELIGIBLE DEFENDANTS IN JURISDICTIONS WITHOUT DRUG COURT PROGRAMS. 2 Strickland v. Washington. 466 U.S. 668, 104 S. Ct. 2052, 80 L. Ed. 2d 674 (1984) 3 Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 2, California. The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Iris Lee BLACK, Defendant and Appellant. No. E046128. July 31, 2009. Review Denied Oct. 28, 2009. ___________________________________________________________________________