Doughman v. State
| Decision Date | 17 July 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. C6-83-1779,C6-83-1779 |
| Citation | 351 N.W.2d 671 |
| Parties | Kurt Dean DOUGHMAN, Appellant, v. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent. |
| Court | Minnesota Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court
Defendant did not carry his burden of demonstrating that his guilty plea, entered after plea negotiations, was not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered.
C. Paul Jones, Minnesota State Public Defender, Brian I. Rademacher, Asst. State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for appellant.
Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., Robert A. Stanich, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., St. Paul, David C. Johnson, Koochiching County Atty., International Falls, for respondent.
Considered and decided by POPOVICH, C.J., and FORSBERG and RANDALL, JJ., with oral argument waived.
Petitioner appeals from the denial of his post-conviction petition to withdraw a previously negotiated guilty plea. We affirm.
In 1981, petitioner was charged with felony theft in violation of Minn.Stat. § 609.52, subd. 2(1) (1980), after tires and rims which had been reported stolen were discovered at petitioner's home and at the home of his brother. He was found competent to stand trial at a psychiatric examination conducted pursuant to Rule 20, Minn.R.Crim.P. Following the determination of competency, petitioner and his public defender negotiated a plea agreement with the prosecutor. Pursuant to the plea agreement, petitioner waived his right to an omnibus hearing and entered a plea of guilty to felony theft as charged. In exchange for his guilty plea, the State agreed to recommend that imposition of sentence be stayed and that petitioner be placed on probation with the condition he serve 45 days in the Koochiching County Jail. The court accepted the plea agreement and imposed the recommended sentence. Petitioner was sentenced on August 3, 1981, and, although twice in court on subsequent violations, did not attempt to withdraw his plea until May 31, 1983.
Approximately fourteen months later, in October 1982, petitioner's probation was revoked following his conviction of a new felony offense. The court vacated the previous stay of imposition of sentence and imposed the presumptive guidelines sentence of one year and one day, with execution stayed for five years on the condition petitioner serve twelve months at the Northeast Regional Correctional Center (NERCC).
On January 26, 1983, petitioner was again found in violation of the terms and conditions of his probation. This time the court vacated the stay of execution and sentenced petitioner to one year and one day in the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Stillwater. (By the time the briefs were filed and submitted appealing the denial of post conviction relief, petitioner had since been paroled and discharged from sentence).
On May 31, 1983, petitioner filed a petition for post-conviction relief, seeking the withdrawal of his guilty plea. That petition was heard and, in October 1983, was denied. At the hearing on the petition for post conviction relief, petitioner testified that no one ever informed him of his right of confrontation before his guilty plea, and claimed he was not aware of it, since he had never been arrested before. He also testified it was his attorney who filled out the petition to enter a plea of guilty, that almost no time was spent reviewing the petition, and further claimed he was so intoxicated at the time the petition was reviewed and the plea entered that he was unable to understand what happened either during the review of the petition or during the guilty plea hearing itself. These claims were raised for the first time twenty-two months after petitioner's plea of guilty.
Petitioner also stated he pled guilty despite his innocence because of his belief that a statement he had been allegedly induced to make by the denial of medical attention while in jail would be used against him. He also claimed he pled guilty because of his belief that he would have to spend five years in prison if he could not "prove his innocence," and because he believed the police would continually harass him if he did not plead guilty.
Petitioner's attorney, an experienced public defender, testified that it was possible, but not likely, he may not have discussed petitioner's right of confrontation with him. That right of confrontation was specifically addressed in the written petition to plead guilty which petitioner signed. The attorney stated he did not know of petitioner's claimed intoxication on the day of the plea, or he would have immediately sought a continuance or brought the matter to the court's attention. He testified that he did not recall petitioner telling him of any improper treatment in jail or any inducements to make a statement, and that he was satisfied petitioner knew all of his rights and knew he was giving them up by pleading guilty.
Was the evidence sufficient to support the post-conviction court's determination that petitioner's guilty plea was voluntarily and intelligently entered?
A criminal defendant is permitted to withdraw a guilty plea following sentencing only upon proving "to the satisfaction of the court that withdrawal is necessary to correct a manifest injustice." Rule 15.05, subd. 1, Minn.R.Crim.P. The decision whether to permit a plea of guilty to be withdrawn is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court. Chapman v. State, 282 Minn. 13, 162 N.W.2d 698 (1968). Absent a clear abuse of discretion, the trial court's decision will not be disturbed on appeal. State v. Jacobs, 292 Minn. 41, 192 N.W.2d 816 (1971).
The burden is on the petitioner at a post-conviction proceeding to prove by a preponderance of the evidence the facts which would warrant withdrawal of his guilty plea. Minn.Stat. § 590.04, subd. 3 (1983); Hanson v. State, 344 N.W.2d 420, 423 (Minn.Ct.App.1984). The scope of our review is limited to ascertaining whether there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the findings of the post-conviction court. Hanson; State v. Doughman, 340 N.W.2d 348 (Minn.Ct.App.1983); Kochevar v. State, 281 N.W.2d 680, 687 (Minn.1979).
To be valid, a guilty plea must appear on the record to have been voluntarily and intelligently made. Rule 15.01, Minn.R.Crim.P., sets out the procedure to be followed on guilty pleas to felonies and gross misdemeanors. A...
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...a presumption of regularity to plea proceedings when attempt to withdraw plea brought 10 years after entry of plea); Doughman v. State, 351 N.W.2d 671, 675 (Minn.App.1984) (questioning validity of claims raised in a motion to withdraw a plea filed 22 months after entry of plea); State v. Tw......
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