Ouimette v. State

• Decision Date: 14 December 2001
• Docket Number: No. 2000-131-APPEAL.,2000-131-APPEAL.
• Parties: Gerard T. OUIMETTE v. STATE.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

785 A.2d 1132

Gerard T. OUIMETTE v. STATE.

No. 2000-131-APPEAL.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

December 14, 2001.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., and LEDERBERG, BOURCIER, FLANDERS, and GOLDBERG, JJ.

Russell Weddell, Taunton, Massachusetts, John F. Cicilline/Vincent Oddo, Bristol, for Plaintiff.

Lauren Sandler Zurier, Providence, Aaron Weisman, for Defendant.

OPINION

GOLDBERG, Justice.

This case came before the Supreme Court on November 6, 2001, on appeal by the applicant, Gerard T. Ouimette (Ouimette or applicant), from a Superior Court judgment, denying his application for post-conviction relief. The applicant is before the Court in response to a sentence enhancement of life imprisonment without parole, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c)(2)(F), handed down by a judge of the United States District Court of Rhode Island. The applicant sought to vacate the state court convictions on various grounds, all aimed at invalidating the sentence enhancement provisions provided by Federal Law.

Facts and Travel

In 1958, at the age of eighteen, Ouimette was charged with armed robbery, to which he entered a plea of nolo contendere, and was sentenced to six years at the Adult Correctional Institutions by a justice of the Superior Court. In 1976, Ouimette pled to amended charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy to commit assault with a dangerous weapon. He again entered a nolo contendere plea and was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence. In 1981, Ouimette petitionedfor post-conviction relief and sought to withdraw his plea in the 1976 conviction, based upon the assertion that there was no factual basis for the plea. The Superior Court denied relief, and, although Ouimette appealed this judgment to the Supreme Court, his counsel subsequently withdrew the appeal after Ouimette was released from custody.¹

In 1996, based upon these prior state court convictions, which qualified as serious violent felonies pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3559(c)(2)(F),² the United States District Court sentenced Ouimette to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The applicant thereupon turned to the Superior Court and sought, through post-conviction relief proceedings, to vacate these convictions. The trial justice denied each application, finding that Ouimette was represented by counsel for his plea to the crime of robbery in 1958 and that he understood the nature and consequences of his actions. He also found that Ouimette had an eighth-grade education and that, before his plea in 1958, Ouimette had previous experience in Rhode Island's criminal courtrooms, having entered pleas in the Sixth Division of the Rhode Island District Court on two separate occasions.³

The trial justice further determined that, based upon the presumption of regularity that attaches to a sentencing procedure, Ouimette had not met the burden of proof necessary to overcome that presumption and that he failed to establish that his 1958 plea was not a knowing and voluntary waiver of his right to a jury trial.

The trial justice also determined that, based upon his unsuccessful and unappealed previous challenge to his 1976 conviction, Ouimette's 1998 claims were barred by the doctrine of res judicata. Accordingly, the trial justice declined to vacate either conviction.

The applicant raises three issues on appeal. First, arguing that the absence of counsel renders that plea presumptively void, Ouimette maintains that the Superior Court erred in finding that he was represented by counsel at his 1958 plea. Second, arguing ineffective assistance of counsel, Ouimette challenges the finding that his 1958 plea was knowing, intelligent and voluntary and challenges the trial justice's reliance on the presumption of regularity inherent in a final judgment. Finally, Ouimette asserts that his 1976 plea and sentence should be vacated on the grounds that the plea was not made with an understanding of the nature of the charges and because no factual basis existed for the plea. We deny the appeal.

The findings of a trial justice, on applications for post-conviction relief, will not be disturbed on appeal unless there is clear error or a showing that the hearing justice overlooked or misconceived material evidence. Brennan v. Vose, 764 A.2d 168, 174 (R.I.2001). However, questions of fact concerning whether a defendant's constitutional rights have been infringed, and mixed questions of law and fact with constitutional implications, are reviewed de novo. Powers v. State, 734 A.2d 508, 514 (R.I.1999)

; Mastracchio v. Moran, 698 A.2d 706, 710 (R.I.1997). Findings of historical fact, and inferences drawn from those facts, will still be accorded great deference by this Court, even when a de novo standard is applied to the issues of constitutional dimension. Powers, 734 A.2d at 514.

1958 Plea

In 1965, in the leading case of Cole v. Langlois, 99 R.I. 138, 206 A.2d 216 (1965), this Court held that before accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, the Superior Court justice was obliged todetermine whether a criminal defendant was aware of the nature of a plea and its effect on his or her fundamental rights, including the right to a jury trial. We declared that this requirement applied notwithstanding that an accused was represented by counsel. Id. at 142, 206 A.2d at 218. We held that the court should advise and admonish the defendant about the nature of the charges and that this Court will look for record evidence to ascertain whether a criminal defendant was made aware of the consequences of a plea and the rights that the defendant was giving up, including the right to a jury trial. Id. at 143-44, 206 A.2d at 219. Later, in Hall v. Langlois, 105 R.I. 642, 254 A.2d 282 (1969), we qualified our holding in Cole and declared that the failure to comply with the obligation to advise a defendant of the nature and consequences of a plea was not fatal when the record as a whole establishes that the trial justice "was relieved of the obligation of advising and admonishing [the defendant] because he had ascertained upon preliminary inquiry from petitioner that he was already fully aware and cognizant of the effect and significance of such a plea." Id. at 645, 254 A.2d at 284. Further, we reiterated that the burden of proof fell upon the party challenging the validity of a plea to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he did not already understand the nature of the charges and the rights he was giving up, either through prior experience with the criminal courts of this state or by reason of having been so advised by counsel. Id. Finally, in Bishop v. Langlois, 106 R.I. 56, 63, 256 A.2d 20, 23 (1969), we acknowledged that before our holding in Cole, "defendants were [rarely] informed by the court or, for that matter, by counsel, of the effect upon their constitutional rights of the plea of nolo contendere or guilty." However, we also recognized that a plea in a criminal case was motivated by a desire for a moderation of sentence and that a tacit admission of guilt was given in exchange for a lenient sentence, often a suspension of sentence based on the defendant's promise of future good behavior. Id. at 63-64, 256 A.2d at 23-24. Significantly, we reiterated that "[i]n nomanner did this practice strike at the integrity of the guilt-finding process." Id. at 63, 256 A.2d at 24. In light of this time-honored procedure, we refused to authorize those defendants who entered into these bargains to challenge the voluntariness of their pleas based upon a retroactive application of our holding in Cole. Bishop, 106 R.I. at 64,

256 A.2d at 24. Thus, we declined to apply Cole retrospectively. Id. We noted that in Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1712, 23 L.Ed.2d 274, 279 (1969), decided one month prior to our holding in Bishop, the United States Supreme Court held that it was impermissible to presume a waiver of constitutional rights by a criminal defendant if the record was silent in regard to the voluntariness of the plea. Record proof of an intelligent and understanding waiver of a defendant's rights was required in order to protect the constitutional guarantees against compulsory self-incrimination, the right to a jury trial and the right to confront one's accusers. Id. Subsequently, in Flint v. Sharkey, 107 R.I. 530, 534, 268 A.2d 714, 717 (1970), this Court held that Boykin's requirements were prospective and did not apply to pre-Boykin plea proceedings. However, a plea entered subsequent to Bishop or Boykin "will be vacated unless the record shows that the court has conducted an on-the-record examination of the defendant before accepting [the] plea [in order] to determine if the plea is being made voluntarily with an understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea." Flint, 107 R.I. at 537,

268 A.2d at 719.

Nevertheless, with respect to pleas entered before Boykin, a defendant who is challenging the voluntariness of a plea is not without a remedy if constitutional deficiencies exist in his conviction. Flint, 107 R.I. at 535,268 A.2d at 718. The substantive rights protected by the formal requirements of Boykin still obtain and, although a formal record is not required, these pleas must have been made by a defendant with full knowledge of the nature of the charges and the constitutional rights that were implicated. Flint, 107 R.I. at 535-36,268 A.2d at 718.

In 1992, the Supreme Court revisited these issues in Parke v. Raley, 506 U.S. 20, 29-30, 113 S.Ct. 517, 523, 121 L.Ed.2d 391, 403-04 (1992), and addressed the balance between the presumption of regularity that attaches to final judgments against the presumption of invalidity that arises from a record that does not clearly indicate that a criminal defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his constitutional rights. In examining a conviction that was allegedly based upon an uninformed guilty plea, the Court distinguished Boykin challenges that are made on direct...