People v. Milton

• Citation: 194 N.W.2d 1,36 Mich.App. 702
• Decision Date: 27 October 1971
• Docket Number: Docket No. 11746,No. 2,2
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. L. B. MILTON, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 1

194 N.W.2d 1

36 Mich.App. 702

PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. L. B. MILTON, Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 11746.

Court of Appeals of Michigan, Division No. 2.

Oct. 27, 1971.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 12, 1972.

Released for Publication Feb. 11, 1972.

William R. Buesser, Buesser, Buesser, Snyder & Blank, Detroit, for defendant-appellant.

Frank J. Kelley, Atty. Gen., Robert A. Derengoski, Sol. Gen., Thomas G. Plunkett, Pros. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Before McGREGOR, P.J., and HOLBROOK and VanVALKENBURG, ^* JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant, charged with assault with intent to commit murder (M.C.L.A. § 750.83 (Stat.Ann.1962 Rev. § 28.278)), pleaded guilty while represented by counsel to the reduced charge of attempted felonious assault. M.C.L.A. § 750.82 (Stat.Ann.1962 Rev. § 28.277) and M.C.L.A. § 750.92 (Stat.Ann.1962 Rev. § 28.287). Defendant was sentenced to 1 1/2 to 2 years in prison, and appeals as of right, contending that the trial court did not elicit from him a factually sufficient basis for accepting his plea of guilty.

The requirement that there be a substantial factual basis for the proper plea of guilty is satisfied when it appears on the record that, upon trial, the defendant might well have been convicted. People v. Lown (1971), 30 Mich.App. 121, 122, 185 N.W.2d 916.

Additionally in reviewing the propriety of the acceptance of this guilty plea by the trial court, we have looked at the testimony taken at the preliminary examination and determine that it also shows a factual basis for the acceptance of the guilty plea. People v. Zaleski (1965), 375 Mich. 71, 133 N.W.2d 175; People v. Lown, Supra.

While it is true that a question of fact as to defendant's actual secret intent was raised which, upon a jury trial, would have been submitted to the jury, the record taken at the plea hearing reveals sufficient evidence of defendant's apparent intention to support a conviction. The trial court's task in evaluating a tendered guilty plea is not to weigh the evidence, but to determine that the plea is truthful, and that it is freely, understandingly and voluntarily made.

Affirmed.

* WADE VanVALKENBURG, former Circuit Court Judge sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment pursuant to Const.1963, art. 6, § 23 as amended in 1968.