Clark v. State, 178S14
| Decision Date | 20 December 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 178S14,178S14 |
| Parties | Morgan Dale CLARK, Appellant, v. STATE, Appellee. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Harriette Bailey Conn, Public Defender, Susan K. Carpenter, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Kenneth R. Stamm, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
Appellant was charged with first degree murder and armed robbery. Subsequently, the State amended the charge to add a count of voluntary manslaughter. A plea agreement was filed in which the State agreed to forego prosecution of the first degree murder count in return for appellant's plea of guilty to the commission of a felony while armed and voluntary manslaughter. The State recommended a sentence of 30 years on the commission of a felony while armed, and a sentence of 2-21 years on the voluntary manslaughter charge. After an extensive hearing in which the judge meticulously examined the appellant to assure that the pleas were being entered knowingly and voluntarily, the trial court accepted the agreement and sentenced appellant accordingly.
A year later appellant filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging that the failure of the trial court to advise him of his constitutional right to compulsory process for obtaining witnesses was a fatal defect in his guilty plea proceeding and asked that his conviction be vacated. The trial court denied relief.
Prior to accepting a plea of guilty from a criminal defendant, the trial court is required to advise him of various constitutional rights, one of which is the right to compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor. IC § 35-4.1-1-3 (Burns 1975). In Williams v. State (1975) 263 Ind. 165, 325 N.E.2d 827, the defendant was not specifically advised of his constitutional rights by the trial court. However, he had been advised of all of his rights by his counsel through a plea agreement voluntarily entered into by him. The agreement specified all the applicable constitutional rights. In holding that this was sufficient, Justice Hunter stated:
263 Ind. at 176, 325 N.E.2d at 833 (original emphasis).
The record of the guilty plea proceeding in the case at bar shows that a three-page plea...
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