Aris v. State, 7 Div. 382
| Decision Date | 21 October 1975 |
| Docket Number | 7 Div. 382 |
| Citation | 321 So.2d 484,56 Ala.App. 315 |
| Parties | Danny ARIS, alias Danny Lee Aris v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Donald W. Stewart, Gadsden, for appellant.
William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen., and Rosa G. Hamlett, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Appellant entered first a plea of not guilty to a two-count indictment charging burglary in the second degree and grand larceny. He afterwards withdrew his plea of not guilty and entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of four years, the sentence to run concurrently with Case No. 7801 in the same court. Approximately seven weeks after his conviction and sentence, he filed in the trial court 'MOTION FOR A NOTICE OF APPEAL.' He made an affidavit of indigency, and the trial court after investigation found that he was indigent, directed a free transcript and appointed counsel on appeal. The designated document filed by appellant contained several alleged grounds, but each ground is unintelligible, unsupported other than by a conclusional verified statement of appellant or inconsistent with the record, or is so vague that it does not justify any relief. Among the grounds is the bare statement that appellant 'was not properly represented by competent counsel.' There is nothing in the record to support such an averment. He was represented by experienced counsel of the county of the trial, and the record indicates that he was employed by defendant, as the record shows no appointment by the court of such counsel or any need or request therefor.
Another ground of the document filed by appellant is to the effect that it was understood that if he would enter a guilty plea the sentence would run concurrently with 'the Sentence he is now serving' but that 'the Sentence did not run concurrent.' We are not informed whether the reference is to the case with which, as shown above, the sentence in this case is made concurrent.
Appellant's counsel here urges that the trial court 'failed to enter into an adequate colloquy with the Appellant,' that he was 'never adequately questioned as to his understanding' of each of his rights and that the trial court failed to 'enter into an adequate discussion of the Appellant's rights and of the consequences of a guilty plea.'
We appreciate counsel's zealous fulfillment of his duty as counsel on appeal, but we find that defendant's plea was changed from not guilty to guilty after full information as to all of his rights and that he knowingly and understandingly changed his plea and entered a plea of guilty, that he knowingly and understandingly waived his constitutional rights as to the privilege against self-incrimination, the right to a trial by jury, the right to confront one's accusers, the right to produce witnesses on his behalf and the benefit of the presumption of innocence and the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt of his guilt. He was correctly advised as to the range of punishment and the punishment was kept well within that range. He executed the form found in Ireland v. State, 47 Ala.App. 65, 250 So.2d 602 (1971), and it was read to him in open court by his attorney. The signed document is in the record and is quoted verbatim in the colloquy among the trial judge, defendant and his counsel. After it had been read, by his counsel to him in open court, he was asked by his counsel whether he understood his rights and he replied 'Yes, sir.' Thereupon he signed the instrument acknowledging his understanding thereof, his guilt and his desire to plead guilty in the language of such an acknowledgment found in Ireland. His attorney also signed the certification in the language of the certification in Ireland that he had read the contents of the document, he had read to defendant the contents of the...
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