Fox v. State

Decision Date25 September 1933
Citation150 So. 228,112 Fla. 104
PartiesFOX v. STATE.
CourtFlorida Supreme Court

Error to Criminal Court of Record, Dade County; E. C. Collins, Judge.

Ben Fox filed a plea of nolo contendere to an information charging a felony, and judgment of conviction and sentence was rendered, and the defendant brings error.

Judgment reversed.

COUNSEL George M. Okell, of Miami, for plaintiff in error.

Cary D. Landis, Atty. Gen., and Roy Campbell, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

To an information charging a felony, the accused, apparently without understanding its import, offered a plea of nolo contendere, upon which a judgment of conviction and sentence to the state prison was rendered. It does not appear that the accused was represented by counsel when the plea was filed. A motion to vacate the judgment and for leave to withdraw the plea of nolo contendere was supported by an affidavit of the accused that he had 'never heard before of the word nolo contendere and did not know or understand its meaning, but was under the impression and believed that when he entered a plea that he was entering a plea of not guilty and that he did not intend to plead guilty,' but is innocent. The motion was denied. This was harmful error.

Judgment reversed.

DAVIS, C.J., and WHITFIELD, BROWN, and BUFORD, JJ., concur.

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6 cases
  • Peel v. State
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 1 February 1963
    ...is convicted of the offense charged, and the sentence which follows should impose the penalty as provided by law. * * *' In Fox v. State, 112 Fla. 104, 150 So. 228, the defendant filed a plea of nolo contendere which he subsequently moved to withdraw. The motion to withdraw was denied, and ......
  • State v. Bridgett
    • United States
    • Circuit Court of Connecticut. Connecticut Circuit Court, Appellate Division
    • 15 March 1965
    ...has no absolute right to insist upon a withdrawal of the plea, he may attack the denial as an abuse of discretion. In Fox v. State, 112 Fla. 104, 150 So. 228, for example, the defendant was without the aid of counsel and pleaded nolo without understanding the nature of the plea. The court's......
  • Jordan v. State, 647
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • 26 November 1958
    ...other reasons, resulted in reversal. Where a defendant did not understand the meaning of the plea he entered, it was held in Fox v. State, 112 Fla. 104, 150 So. 228, to be harmful error to deny his motion to withdraw the In Pope v. State, supra, it was said that the law favors trials on the......
  • Paul v. State
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • 29 June 1954
    ...v. State, 82 Fla. 83, 89 So. 353; Corlise v. State, 94 Fla. 1192, 115 So. 528; Casey v. State, 116 Fla. 3, 156 So. 282; and Fox v. State, 112 Fla. 104, 150 So. 228.' The cause be and the same is hereby reversed, with directions to set aside the sentence and judgment of conviction and grant ......
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