Krider v. State
| Decision Date | 27 February 2001 |
| Citation | 44 S.W.3d 850 |
| Parties | (Mo. Banc 2001) . Dennis Paul Krider, Appellant v. State of Missouri, Respondent. WD58053 Missouri Court of Appeals Western District Handdown Date: 0 |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal From: Circuit Court of Henry County, Hon. William J. Roberts
Counsel for Appellant: Kent E. Gipson
Counsel for Respondent: Susan K. Glass and Andrea Mazza Follett
Opinion Summary: Dennis Krider appeals from the motion court's denial of his Rule 24.035 motion for postconviction relief.
AFFIRMED.
Division One holds:
The motion court did not clearly err in finding that it was unlikely that Krider's trial counsel implied that Krider would receive the death penalty if he did not plead guilty. Furthermore, the motion court did not clearly err in concluding that even if Krider's trial counsel did imply that Krider may receive the death penalty if he did not plead guilty, it was not reasonable for Krider to believe that, given the fact that Krider was informed during his arraignment that the maximum punishment he could receive was life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Concerning the second point on appeal, Krider may not obtain review of his postconviction counsel's alleged ineffectiveness in failing to call witnesses by labeling his counsel's alleged dereliction "abandonment."
Dennis Krider appeals from the motion court's denial of his Rule 24.035 motion for postconviction relief. Krider raises two points on appeal. First, he claims the motion court erred in denying his motion because the record established that his guilty plea was involuntary and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel when his trial counsel falsely informed him that if he did not plead guilty he would get the death penalty at the culmination of the trial. Second, he claims the motion court clearly erred in not finding that he was abandoned by his Rule 24.035 motion counsel and in finding that he was not denied effective assistance of counsel due to the failure of his postconviction counsel to call necessary witnesses to testify.
We affirm.
By a seven-count information filed February 23, 1998 in the Circuit Court of Henry County, Missouri, Dennis Krider was charged with first degree murder, forcible rape, first degree burglary, forcible sodomy, and three counts of armed criminal action. An amended information deleted one of the armed criminal action counts.
On August 26, 1998, Krider was present at his jury trial in the Circuit Court of Henry County, but chose to end the trial and plead guilty to second degree murder and forcible rape. The State dismissed the remaining counts. In accordance with the plea agreement, Krider was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment for second degree murder and twenty years for forcible rape, the sentences to run concurrently with each other. During his guilty plea hearing, Krider testified, among other things, that he understood the range of punishment on a class A felony, that he understood the plea agreement, that he was satisfied with the services of his trial counsel, Clinton Wright, and that Mr. Wright had not forced him to plead guilty or threatened him in any way.
Krider filed a timely pro se Rule 24.035 motion. Krider's counsel subsequently filed a timely amended Rule 24.035 motion. Krider set forth several allegations in his motion. For the purpose of this appeal, the relevant allegation is as follows:
8(A). Mr. Krider's guilty plea was not entered knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily, because plea counsel Clinton Wright coerced Mr. Krider to enter a guilty plea against his will. Mr. Krider decided to plead guilty because Mr. Wright coerced him emotionally. Mr. Wright implied that Mr. Krider could be sentenced to death if he continued with his trial, and told Mr. Krider that he (Mr. Wright) had no idea what he would do if he had to return to the courtroom to continue trying the case. Mr. Krider and his parents were frightened both by Mr. Wright's threat that Mr. Krider could be sentenced to death and by his apparent lack of preparation to defend Mr. Krider. . . . Mr. Wright was constitutionally ineffective in his representation of Mr. Krider. Mr. Krider would not have pleaded guilty if he had not been threatened and coerced . . . . Mr. Krider was denied his rights to due process of law, to a jury trial, and to the effective assistance of trial counsel, as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and by Article I, Sections 10, 18(a), and 22(a) of the Missouri Constitution, when he entered his guilty pleas unknowingly, involuntarily, and unintelligently.
A hearing was held on Krider's motion. Krider was present with his counsel. Mark Gladfelter, a deputy sheriff with the Henry County Sheriff's Department, testified that he was present when Clinton Wright, Krider, and Krider's parents were listening to a tape during Krider's trial. He testified as follows:
Q. Okay, did you hear Mr. Wright mention anything about needles or a syringe?
A. He said something to the effect of needles throughout this. I cannot tell you his exact words towards it.
I can tell you what I think that he was getting at with it. I think what he was saying was, that if, if they go on and the jury hears the tape, the jury is going to give the stiffest penalty they can.
And I do know that a needle was mentioned, but I cannot give exact words of how it was mentioned.
Q. But you did hear him use that term?
A. Yes.
Q. In relation to the jury giving a stiff sentence?
A. That is how I took it. He didn't actually say it, but he did mention needles and that is how I took it, is that the jury would give a stiff sentence, if they had heard the tape.
* * * * *
Krider testified, in relevant part, as follows:
Q. Okay, and we have heard some testimony about the use of the word "needle." Did [Mr. Wright] use that term with you?
A. Yes.
Q. What exactly did he say as far as needle?
A. At that point and time, my understanding was and the way he was presenting it to me, was that if I didn't take this plea, that I would get the worst maximum sentence possible.
And in my way of thinking, that is a death penalty when he brought up the needle, syringe or whatever you want to call it.
In my way of thinking, it was a choice between a death penalty or thirty years in prison. Well, neither of them sounds too good to me, but thirty years beats a death penalty.
Q. And what, what specific words did he use? Do you remember exactly what he said?
A. Basically, when we got back there, the whole gist of the conversation was, he didn't know what he was going to do to defend me any more. It was pretty obvious he had given up.
My father and I didn't feel like we could switch attorneys, at that point and time. He was saying, you know, you will get the maximum sentence, which, like I said, my way of thinking is the death penalty.
And when he brought up the syringe and the needle in the conversation the way he did, it just made me feel like that was going to be part of it, which later on, when I was in Fulton and reviewing some things, it became obvious to me that, during the trial, they had said that it was a non-death penalty case.
At this time, being a little emotional and upset and pressured, that didn't click in my head. And my parents didn't catch it either or they would have said something.
Q. So, you didn't realize you had just forgotten or gone out of your head that the death penalty wasn't in the case, at the time you were thinking about the guilty plea?
A. There was just a tremendous amount of pressure at that point and time. And with him bringing up the needle and saying I would get the maximum sentence, of course, I am taking my lawyer's advice, assuming he is doing the best for me.
And that isn't necessarily the way it worked out, as far as I am concerned.
Q. Now, you keep talking about the needle. I am trying to get you to say exactly what he said about the needle.
A. When he brought it up in the conversation.
Q. I mean, do you recall the specific words that he used?
A. I can't say specifically, exactly what he said. I can just give you the general gist of the conversation and the needle was definitely brought up.
The way he brought it up implied that I would be receiving a death penalty, other than that, I don't know how to explain it any better.
* * * * *
Krider also testified that he lied during his guilty plea hearing when he was under oath.
Leroy Krider, Dennis Krider's father, testified, in relevant part, as follows:
Q. Okay, now, do you recall what advice Mr. Wright gave Dennis Krider about what sentence he would receive?
A. No, other than he was talking about, as I recall, somewhere around thirty years.
Other than that, you know, if he didn't plead, he did say that the possibility of the maximum penalty would be the syringe.
Q. Oh, really?
A. Yes.
Q. I mean, he did mention a needle or syringe?
A. A needle, I believe he said "needle."
Q. And what did he say about that?
A. He said, as far as he was concerned, Dennis didn't have a choice or an option, but he, you know, was either a death, possibility of a death sentence or the plea bargain.
Q. And were you aware, going in, that this was not a death penalty case?
A. Oh, yeah, in the very beginning we were informed that it wasn't, but once we were under, you know, the emotional strain, that never even crossed my mind.
In fact, it didn't cross my mind or my wife's until, I think Dennis may have called us from Fulton and said, hey, that wasn't even a question. We didn't realize that or didn't, it didn't register. Let's put it that way, because the Judge had instructed in the very beginning, it was not a death penalty, but that, that was totally gone with all of the...
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