Hirt v. State
| Decision Date | 01 February 1974 |
| Docket Number | 43394,Nos. 43900,s. 43900 |
| Citation | 214 N.W.2d 778,298 Minn. 553 |
| Parties | Robert Alan HIRT, Jr., Respondent, v. STATE of Minnesota, Appellant. STATE of Minnesota, Respondent, v. Robert Alan HIRT, Jr., Appellant. |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Curtis D. Forslund, Sol. Gen., Jon K. Murphy, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., and Paul J. Doerner, County Atty., St. Paul, for appellants in No. 43900.
C. Paul Jones, Public Defender, Univ. of Minn. Law School, Minneapolis, Mark W. Peterson, Asst. Public Defender, Neighborhood Justice Center, Inc., St. Paul, for Robert Alan Hirt, Jr.
Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Jonathan H. Morgan, Sol. Gen., Robert F. Carolan, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., and Paul J. Doerner, County Atty., St. Paul, for respondent in No. 43394.
Considered en banc without oral argument.
After pleading guilty to burglary and receiving the maximum sentence of imprisonment authorized by Minn.St. 609.58, subd. 2(1)(a), defendant filed a direct appeal from the judgment of conviction. Thereafter, while the appeal was stayed, defendant sought postconviction relief alleging that his plea was not freely and voluntarily made, that his counsel did not adequately represent him, and that there was no factual basis for the plea. After a hearing on this petition before a different judge from the one who accepted defendant's guilty plea, the postconviction court granted relief on the ground that the plea was not freely and voluntarily made. Pursuant to Minn.St. 590.06, the state, contending that the postconviction court erred in granting relief, appeals from the order granting relief and from an order denying a motion for rehearing. In his separate appeal, which we have consolidated with the state's appeal for purposes of consideration, defendant contends that the postconviction court erred in finding and concluding that his counsel adequately represented him and that there was a sufficient factual basis for the plea.
The facts are these: At approximately 4 a.m. on Saturday, April 3, 1971, defendant, who was on probation after having been convicted in 1970 of three separate burglary charges, was stopped by police in the village of St. Joseph, arrested, and charged with participating (as the driver) in the burglary of the El Paso Club. Police also arrested two of defendant's companions inside the club. A search of the glove compartment of defendant's automobile produced wallets belonging to the two men arrested inside the club.
The police record shows that that afternoon police attempted to interrogate defendant but stopped when defendant indicated he wished to talk with an attorney first.
The following Monday, April 5, 1971, before he had talked with an attorney, defendant stated that he wished to talk to Stearns County Deputy Sheriff Lawrence Kritzeck, who had been the complaining witness in the other three burglary convictions. Defendant testified at the postconviction hearing that during this conversation Kritzeck told him that if he didn't cooperate he would be charged with being a habitual offender and would receive 40 years. Neither defendant nor the state called Kritzeck, who was present at the postconviction hearing, to give his version of what he said during this conviction. In any event, later that day defendant signed a written confession in which he admitted that for $20 he had agreed to drive the other two to the scene of the burglary and wait for them outside. In this same statement, he confessed to participating in the burglary of Sal's Cafe in St. Joseph one week earlier and in the attempted burglary of the El Paso Club also one week earlier.
The following morning defendant appeared in municipal court and talked for the first time with his attorney. Defendant testified at the postconviction hearing that his attorney told him that, since defendant had confessed, there was very little the attorney could do. Defendant testified further that he told the attorney of his fear of being charged as a habitual offender but was told not to worry about that, to put it out of his head, and that the habitual offender law had nothing to do with him. According to defendant, this temporarily relieved his anxiety about a 40-year sentence but the fears returned when moments later in court Kritzeck asked for large bail on the ground that defendant was a habitual offender.
Defendant testified that he talked briefly with his attorney before his arraignment that afternoon but did not recall discussing the habitual offender matter with him because--
'Well, I didn't want to blow it, like if I went in there and this was brought up and they turned down my plea of guilty, then I would have had to gone to a jury trial, and Kritzeck had mentioned something that I better not cause all this trouble, you know, by going through a jury trial and things, that if I would say exactly like was in the statement they would accept my plea of guilty.'
Prior to entering his plea of guilty, defendant signed the standard form of petition to enter a plea of guilty. In this petition he stated that
In addition, at the time of his arraignment, he was questioned concerning the petition to enter a plea of guilty and agreed that his attorney had previously read the form out loud to him while he was looking right at it with his attorney, that he understood it, and that there was nothing on it that he questioned.
Also, at the time of arraignment, defendant was questioned by his attorney about his confession and whether or not he had gone over the confession with the attorney, whether his attorney had asked about the truthfulness of it and any threats, and if he had advised defendant of his rights. He agreed that that was correct. At that arraignment he was asked the following questions by the county attorney and gave the following answers:
'
It is important to note that the reason given by defendant for pleading guilty at that time did not include his present contention that he pleaded guilty because he was afraid of the habitual offender law. Thus, even if he had been told that he might be given a 40-year sentence under a habitual offender law, he did not give that as a reason for pleading guilty.
Also, at the arraignment, the county attorney stated that he did not intend to charge defendant with the burglary of Sal's Cafe and another attempted burglary of the El Paso Club in the light of his cooperation and guilty plea.
At the time of his postconviction hearing, the defendant was also asked by the county attorney:
To this question, he gave the following answer:
At that same hearing, he was questioned by his then attorney as to how he happened to have the...
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Butala v. State
...as to entitle a defendant to withdraw his plea.' " State v. Danh, 516 N.W.2d 539, 544 (Minn.1994) (quoting Hirt v. State, 298 Minn. 553, 558, 214 N.W.2d 778, 782 (1974)). Appellant argues that he was entitled to withdraw his guilty pleas because he entered them involuntarily. He contends th......
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...of a guilty plea * * * constitute[s] such a manifest injustice as to entitle a defendant to withdraw his plea." Hirt v. State, 298 Minn. 553, 558, 214 N.W.2d 778, 782 (1974). Therefore, the trial court should have allowed appellant to withdraw his guilty plea if it found that the plea was i......
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