Joshua v. State, 3-383A65
Decision Date | 25 August 1983 |
Docket Number | No. 3-383A65,3-383A65 |
Citation | 452 N.E.2d 463 |
Parties | Jerome JOSHUA, Appellant (Petitioner Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Respondent Below). |
Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Susan K. Carpenter, Public Defender, David R. Swinford, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., G. Douglas Seidman, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
On June 25, 1980, appellant Jerome Joshua was charged by indictment with felony murder, a class A felony, and robbery, a class A felony. On October 5 and 6, 1981, a jury was impaneled and preliminary instructions were read. Neither party objected to the court's instructions. In front of the jury and in the presence of the appellant, the court read the following instruction:
The State proceeded to produce evidence in proof of its case against appellant and his co-defendant, Vernon Turman. After the first morning of trial, appellant and co-defendant Turman moved for recess, and the following day they entered guilty pleas to robbery, a class B felony.
Before entering his own guilty plea, appellant witnessed co-defendant Turman's plea of guilty. The court carefully advised Turman of his rights, including the right to have the case against him proven beyond a reasonable doubt. However, in accepting appellant's plea the court failed to similarly instruct on this reasonable doubt standard.
Additionally, the record indicates that the trial court erroneously referred to robbery as a class D rather than a class B felony. The record further establishes that the written plea agreement correctly referred to robbery as a class B felony, and that the appellant understood the minimum and maximum penalties for robbery.
Appellant now challenges the denial of his motion for post-conviction relief, alleging the following errors:
(1) whether the trial court erred in failing to advise appellant that a guilty plea waived his right to have the State prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; and
(2) whether the trial court erred in erroneously referring to robbery as a class D rather than a class B felony.
Appellant first contends that the trial court's failure to specifically instruct him, that a guilty plea waived his right to have the case proven against him beyond a reasonable doubt constitutes reversible error. The Indiana plea bargain statutes specifically provide:
(Emphasis added.)
The Supreme Court of Indiana has held, by a 3 to 2 vote, that it is the duty of the trial court to strictly comply with the terms of this statute. German v. State, (1981) Ind., 428 N.E.2d 234. The German case further stated that:
"other cases, to the extent that they held that the statutory obligation of the trial judge to inform the defendant that a plea of guilty operates as a waiver or surrender of the above enumerated rights may be met by something short of a direct statement to that effect, are overruled."
Following the German decision, the Supreme Court has continued to apply this form over substance construction to the plea statutes. See Davis v. State, (1983) Ind., 446 N.E.2d 1317; Early v. State, (1982) Ind., 442 N.E.2d 1071; Romine v. State, (1982) Ind., 431 N.E.2d 780. The present state of the law, no matter how illogical it may be, is best stated in Early v. State, supra. There the Supreme Court held that:
Two Justices have continued to dissent from the results reached by the majority's mechanistic construction and application of this statute. These cases have produced results which go beyond the United States Supreme Court cases, including Boykin v. Alabama, (1969) 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274, and North Carolina v. Alford, (1970) 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162. The results are also clearly irreconcilable with earlier Indiana cases construing this statute, such as McDowell v. State, (1981) Ind., 422 N.E.2d 1229. The rationale behind the Indiana statute is to insure that when a defendant enters a guilty plea, he understands all of his rights enumerated in the plea agreement and freely, voluntarily, and knowingly waives all such rights. To the extent that present case law requires the ritualistic invocation of these rights at the time the plea is entered, it goes beyond the intention of the State's Legislature.
To exemplify the results reached under the present construction, one need only review the cases reported. Most recently, in Beahan v. State, (1983) Ind.App., 449 N.E.2d 1183, this Court reversed a guilty plea where the trial court failed to contemporaneously advise the defendant of her right to have the State prove her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. However, the record clearly indicated that defendant was not only advised of this right, but exercised that right at trial before entering a guilty plea. Her plea was, without a doubt,...
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Grimes v. State
...law is that the omission constitutes reversible error. The majority should have felt constrained to reverse. See, e.g., Joshua v. State (1983), Ind.App., 452 N.E.2d 463. 1 Thus, the plea was taken prior to the decision in German v. State (1981), Ind., 428 N.E.2d 234, the first of the "stric......
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...to be knowingly and intelligently entered, the defendant must be informed and understand what he is doing at that time. Joshua v. State (1983), Ind.App., 452 N.E.2d 463, trans. den. (Staton, P.J., concurring). As expressed in Collins v. State (1979), 182 Ind.App. 95, 394 N.E.2d 211, reh. de......