Daniels v. State

• Decision Date: 15 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. WD 59867.,WD 59867.
• Citation: 70 S.W.3d 457
• Parties: Teri Ann DANIELS a/k/a Teri Ann Daniell, Respondent, v. STATE of Missouri, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

70 S.W.3d 457

Teri Ann DANIELS a/k/a Teri Ann Daniell, Respondent, v. STATE of Missouri, Appellant.

No. WD 59867.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

January 15, 2002.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied March 5, 2002.

Application for Transfer Denied April 23, 2002.

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Linda Lemke, Karen L. Kramer, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellant.

Susan L. Hogan, Appellate Defender, Kansas City, for respondent.

Before HOWARD, P.J., and BRECKENRIDGE and NEWTON, JJ.

VICTOR C. HOWARD, Presiding Judge.

The State appeals from the motion court's grant of Teri Ann Daniels'¹ Rule 24.035 motion for postconviction relief, vacating the judgment accepting her plea, following Daniels' plea of guilty to the charge of manufacturing methamphetamine. The State's sole point on appeal is that the motion court clearly erred in granting Daniels' motion for postconviction relief, which alleged that her guilty plea was unknowing, involuntary, and unintelligent, on grounds that there was no factual basis for her plea, because the record shows that the facts adduced at the plea hearing were sufficient, as a matter of law, to establish that Daniels committed the crime of manufacturing methamphetamine.

We reverse and remand.

Facts

On April 4, 2000, Teri Ann Daniels was charged by information with manufacturing a controlled substance, methamphetamine, § 195.211.² On May 3, 2000, Daniels appeared in the Circuit Court of Holt County and entered a plea of guilty to the charge. During the plea hearing, Daniels stated under oath that she read the petition to enter a plea of guilty before she signed it, and that the signature on the document was her own. The petition to enter plea of guilty indicated that Daniels received a copy of the information, that she had discussed it with her attorney, and that she fully understood the charge against her. The petition to enter plea of guilty also contains the following sentence: "I represent to the Court that I did the following acts in connection with the charge made against me: Manufacture of a Controlled Substance, Methamphetamine."

During the plea hearing, the court asked Daniels what she did to be charged with the crime, and she responded, "Manufactured methamphetamine." The prosecutor then recited the facts the State would prove if the case went to trial, which were as follows:

[I]n October of `99 the sheriff's department brought the task force and the highway patrol and started developing information. Some of it came from confidential informants concerning the manufacture of methamphetamine being done at the Parker residence down in Forbes, Missouri. They put this together and gathered more information, a search warrant was obtained for Mr. Parker's residence. It was executed on February 22nd this year. Miss Daniell had been living there for a couple of months. According to the information the warrant was executed. There was a substantial quantity of methamphetamine found in various stages of manufacture and processing. Some of it was in liquid form and in suspension of liquid, some was finished product. Extensive paraphernalia for the manufacture scattered throughout the house, including in the upstairs where she and Mr. Wofford were living and downstairs in the front room and kitchen, throughout the house. There was also extensive remnants found back in the trash area where it had obviously been going on for a considerable length of time. That was here in Holt County, Missouri.

The plea court asked Daniels whether she agreed that those facts were accurate and true, and Daniels said they were. The court asked Daniels what her understanding of the plea agreement was, and Daniels said she understood that she would be sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. The plea court asked Daniels if she was pleading guilty because she was, in fact, guilty of the charge, and Daniels said she was. The plea court found that there was a factual basis for the plea, accepted Daniels' plea, and sentenced her to ten years' imprisonment.

On July 24, 2000, Daniels filed a pro se motion for postconviction relief under Rule 24.035. On October 23, 2000, Daniels' counsel filed an amended motion for postconviction relief. In the motion, Daniels claimed that the circuit court clearly erred in accepting her plea of guilty to manufacturing a controlled substance in that there was no factual basis established by which the court could find her guilty. Daniels claimed that the factual basis was insufficient because it did not show that she "knowingly" manufactured methamphetamine and did not relate the method by which she manufactured methamphetamine. There was no hearing on the postconviction motion.

On April 12, 2001, the motion court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law, granting Daniels' motion for postconviction relief on grounds that there was no factual basis for the plea. The court stated as follows:

Although Teri A. Daniels stated both in her written plea agreement and upon interrogation that she had manufactured methamphetamine, there was no admission by her or statement by the prosecutor sufficiently outlining the elements of the charge so as to allow the Court to find that Plaintiff in fact was knowingly admitting the violation of the required elements of Section 195.211, RSMo. in that there was no demonstration to the Court or Teri A. Daniel of:

(A) The way Defendant Daniel was involved in manufacturing,

(B) That Defendant Daniel knew, was aware or consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the substance which was manufactured was methamphetamine, at the time of its manufacture, as required by 325.06, MAI-CR 3rd.

* * * * * *

This appeal follows.

Standard of Review

On review of a Rule 24.035 motion for postconviction relief, we must uphold the motion court's determination unless the findings of fact and conclusions of law are clearly erroneous. Rule 24.035(k); Daniels v. State, 31 S.W.3d 121, 122 (Mo. App. W.D.2000). We will find the motion court's determination clearly erroneous only if we are left with a firm and definite belief that a mistake has been made. Daniels, 31 S.W.3d at 122.

Argument

The State's sole point on appeal is that the motion court clearly erred in granting Daniels' motion for postconviction relief because the record shows that the facts adduced at the plea hearing were sufficient, as a matter of law, to establish that Daniels committed the crime of manufacturing methamphetamine in that the record shows that Daniels read and understood the charge against her, she admitted that she manufactured methamphetamine, she agreed that the State's recital of the facts was true, and she said that she was pleading guilty because she was, in fact, guilty of the crime.

Rule 24.02(e) provides that "[t]he court shall not enter a judgment upon a plea of guilty unless it determines that there is a factual basis for the plea." As we stated in Brown v. State, 45 S.W.3d 506, 508 (Mo.App. W.D.2001):

Before accepting the guilty plea, the circuit court must "determine facts which defendant admits by his plea and that those facts would result in defendant['s] being guilty of the offense charged." Hoskin v. State, 863 S.W.2d 637, 639 (Mo.App.1993). If the facts presented to the court during the guilty plea hearing do not establish the commission of the offense, the court should reject the guilty plea. Holloway v. State, 989 S.W.2d 216, 219 (Mo.App. 1999), overruled on other grounds by State v. Withrow, 8 S.W.3d 75 (Mo. banc 1999). A defendant is not required to admit or to recite the facts constituting the offense in a guilty plea proceeding, so long as a factual basis for the plea exists. State v. Morton, 971 S.W.2d 335, 340 (Mo.App.1998). "A factual basis is established if the defendant understands the facts recited by the judge or the prosecutor" at the guilty plea proceeding. Id. A defendant, however, should express "an awareness of the nature and elements of the charge to which he or she pleads guilty." Vann v. State, 959 S.W.2d 131, 134 (Mo.App.1998).

"`[A] trial court is not required to explain every element of a crime to which a person pleads guilty' so long as the defendant understands the nature of the charge." State v. Taylor, 929 S.W.2d 209, 217 (Mo. banc 1996), quoting Beaver v. State, 702 S.W.2d 149, 150 (Mo.App. S.D.1985). "[I]t is not necessary that the movant admit to, or even believe, the veracity of the elements of the charges against him in order for his guilty plea to be valid." Bird v. State, 657 S.W.2d 315, 316 (Mo.App. E.D. 1983). Our focus "is on whether the plea was made intelligently and voluntarily, not whether a particular ritual is followed or every detail explained." Holloway v. State, 989 S.W.2d 216, 219-20 (Mo.App. W.D.1999), overruled on other grounds by State v. Withrow, 8 S.W.3d 75 (Mo. banc 1999).

Section 195.211.1 provides as follows:

Except as authorized by sections 195.005 to 195.425 and except as provided in section 195.222, it is unlawful for any person to distribute, deliver, manufacture, produce or attempt to distribute, deliver, manufacture or produce a controlled substance or to possess with intent to distribute, deliver, manufacture, or produce a controlled substance.

"The crime of the manufacture of methamphetamine requires the state to prove the defendant: (1) manufactured methamphetamine and (2) was aware the substance he manufactured was methamphetamine." Salmons v. State, 16 S.W.3d 635, 638 (Mo.App. W.D.2000); see also State v. Dowell, 25 S.W.3d 594, 603 (Mo. App. W.D.2000) (stating the elements are that the defendant 1) knowingly manufactured methamphetamine; and 2) knew that the substance he manufactured was methamphetamine).

MAI-CR 3d 325.06.1 provides as follows:

(As to Count ___, if) (If) you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt:

First, that (on) (on or about) [date], in the (City) (County) of ___, State of Missouri, the...