Cantu v. State
Decision Date | 15 April 1994 |
Citation | 660 So.2d 1026 |
Parties | Ex parte State of Alabama. (re Ignacio CANTU v. STATE). 1920426. |
Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., for petitioner.
Thomas M. Di Giulian, Decatur, for respondent.
On Application for Rehearing
The opinion of October 15, 1993, is withdrawn and the following opinion is substituted therefor.
This Court granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari, to review the question whether a criminal defendant is precluded from raising, in a post-conviction proceeding, a defect in the Boykin colloquy, 1 specifically, the failure of the trial judge to properly advise the defendant of the maximum sentence he could receive if he entered a plea of guilty. See, Rule 14.4(a)(1), Ala.R.Crim.P. Stated differently, the question is: If the trial judge fails to strictly comply with the procedural requirements for the entry of a guilty plea, must the defendant seek to withdraw the plea of guilty and give the trial judge an opportunity to pass on any claimed error in the process and thereby establish in the record the error in question in the event of an appeal, or can the defendant raise the question in a timely filed post-conviction proceeding?
The facts necessary to a resolution of this question are sufficiently set out in Judge Patterson's opinion for the Court of Criminal Appeals, Cantu v. State, 660 So.2d 1024 (Ala.Crim.App.1992), but we set forth some of the basic facts here also. Ignacio Cantu pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine, a violation of § 13A-12-231(2)(c), Ala.Code 1975, and was Cantu alleged that he had pleaded guilty only after he had been advised by his counsel that the maximum sentence that could be imposed against him was life imprisonment without parole; however, the actual maximum sentence that the trial court could have imposed was 99 years or life imprisonment. The State moved to dismiss, arguing that Cantu was precluded from pursuing his claims because, it argued, they should have been raised on direct appeal. The circuit court apparently agreed; it dismissed Cantu's Rule 32 petition. Cantu appealed.
sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment and fined $250,000. Cantu did not appeal, but he later filed a petition seeking post-conviction relief pursuant to Rule 32, Ala.R.Crim.P. In his petition, Cantu alleged that his guilty plea had not been made voluntarily with an understanding of the consequences of his plea; that the circuit court had been without jurisdiction to render a judgment against him or to impose a sentence; and that he had been denied effective assistance of counsel.
On appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals, by opinion, remanded the cause and allowed Cantu to amend his petition, pursuant to Rule 32.6(a), Ala.R.Crim.P., and ordered an adjudication on the merits on Cantu's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. Cantu v. State, 587 So.2d 1287 (Ala.Crim.App.1991). Cantu then amended his Rule 32 petition and, after a hearing thereon, the circuit court denied the petition. Cantu again appealed; the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed, stating, "Because Cantu was misinformed of the applicable maximum sentence, this cause must be remanded to the circuit court with the order that Cantu's conviction be 'reversed,' in accordance with Ex parte Rivers, 597 So.2d 1308 (Ala.1991)." Cantu v. State, 660 So.2d 1024, 1025 (Ala.Crim.App.1992). The State's application for rehearing was overruled, and the State petitioned for certiorari review.
In Parish v. State, 660 So.2d 227 (Ala.Crim.App.1993), the Court of Criminal Appeals referred frequently to Ex parte Rivers, 597 So.2d 1308 (Ala.1991), and stated that this Court in Rivers had established what appeared to be a new rule that was "a departure from case law." 660 So.2d at 229-30. Judge Patterson observed specifically in Parish:
voluntarily, and intelligently given,' 597 So.2d at 1310.
660 So.2d at 229-30 (emphasis added in Parish ).
In its opinion in this case, the Court of Criminal Appeals analyzed some of the case law relating to the preservation of claimed error in matters relating to pleas of guilty and, citing its later-withdrawn opinion of September 30, 1992, in Parish v. State, stated that it is "uncertain as to how and to what circumstances the Rivers rule should be applied," 660 So.2d at 1025, but concluded that "because Cantu was not correctly informed of the maximum sentence, his sentence is void, and, in accordance with Rivers, 597 So.2d at 1310, his conviction must be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings." 2 660 So.2d at 1025.
We agree with the State's argument that the case law is conflicting as to when and under what circumstances a defendant is precluded from raising, on appeal, or in a post-conviction proceeding when there was no appeal, as here, a failure of the trial judge to follow the procedural requirements for the entry of a plea of guilty. 3
The confusion over the proper interpretation of the Rivers holding is addressed in Gordon v. Nagle, 647 So.2d 91 (Ala.1994), wherein this Court, in answering a certified question from the United States Circuit Court for the Eleventh Circuit, stated that the confusion relating to when and under what circumstances a defendant could be precluded from raising a question about the voluntariness of a guilty plea was caused by a misinterpretation of the original holding in Rivers. In Gordon v. Nagle, this Court, after noting the confusion that did exist, stated:
Boykin, of course, established the procedural due process requirements that must be met before a guilty plea can be considered to have been voluntarily and intelligently entered. These procedural requirements have been incorporated in the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure; see Rule 14.4. Rule 14.4(e) specifically provides for the withdrawal of a plea of guilty. Cantu did not appeal, but elected to use a post-conviction proceeding to attack the failure of the trial judge to advise him of the maximum sentence he could receive. Because Cantu's petition under Rule 32 was brought within the two-year limitations period of Rule 32.2(c),...
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