Readus v. State
| Decision Date | 04 February 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 2001-CA-01182-COA.,2001-CA-01182-COA. |
| Citation | 837 So.2d 209 |
| Parties | Antonio READUS, Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee. |
| Court | Mississippi Court of Appeals |
James D. Minor, Oxford, attorney for appellant.
Office of the Attorney General by: Scott Stuart, attorney for appellee.
Before SOUTHWICK, P.J., THOMAS and CHANDLER, JJ.
CHANDLER, J., for the court.
¶ 1. Antonio Readus pled guilty to fourteen charges of burglary and attempted burglary contained in twelve indictments. Readus filed a motion for post-conviction relief (PCR) from the fourteen charges in the Circuit Court of Panola County. The PCR was summarily dismissed. Aggrieved, Readus has appealed to this Court arguing he was entitled to an evidentiary hearing because his motion and affidavits raised questions as to whether the guilty pleas were involuntary, whether counsel was ineffective, and whether the sentence was unconstitutionally disproportionate to the crime. Readus also requests that this Court consider this appeal as to all fourteen convictions.
¶ 2. Finding error, we reverse and remand for an evidentiary hearing to determine the merits of Readus' allegations of involuntary plea and ineffective assistance of counsel. We find the issue of proportionality to be without merit.
FACTS
¶ 3. On January 10, 2000, an attorney with the Public Defender's Office was appointed as counsel for Readus. At some point, the attorney was notified that the State intended to call Readus to testify against his accomplice, Nathaniel Watson. On February 3, 2000, Readus refused the State's offer of twenty years' imprisonment, and instead filed a petition to enter open pleas of guilty to all burglary charges. The plea and sentencing hearing was held later the same day. The circuit court carefully questioned Readus to ascertain that the pleas were entered knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily, and that Readus was satisfied with his counsel's performance. The court accepted the pleas, and imposed two consecutive twenty-five-year sentences and consecutive ten year suspended sentences on each of the other charges.
¶ 4. Readus hired new counsel for post-conviction proceedings and filed the PCR motion on March 15, 2001. Readus attached affidavits of himself and his mother in support of his issues of involuntary pleas and ineffective assistance of counsel. In pertinent part, Readus' affidavit averred:
¶ 5. Readus' mother's affidavit averred that she first spoke with the attorney the morning of the sentencing hearing in anticipation of her testimony. The affidavit stated that the attorney told her that Readus "would get about six years and he said something about papers after that."
¶ 6. Pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-9(2) (Rev.2000), which limits PCR review to one judgment, the circuit court considered the motion only as it related to the charge for which Readus is currently serving time. The court dismissed the motion without a hearing or discovery, finding that it plainly appeared from the motion and the contents of the court file that Readus was not entitled to any relief. Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(2) (Rev.2000). The court found that Readus' affidavit was belied by his sworn testimony at the sentencing hearing and, therefore, the statements in the affidavit were "a sham." The court stated that "Readus' mother's affidavit is no help to the [c]ourt."
LAW AND ANALYSIS
¶ 7. Readus requests that this Court consider his PCR motion as to all fourteen guilty pleas. The circuit court found that § 99-39-9(2) required that it limit post-conviction review to only one of Readus' convictions. Mississippi Code Annotated § 99-39-9(2) (Rev.2000) limits PCR review to a single judgment, requiring a defendant to file one PCR motion per each challenged judgment. The circuit court would have properly limited PCR review to only one of the judgments if the fourteen convictions were contained in fourteen separate judgments. Id. However, no copy of any judgment was included in the record, so we are unable to resolve the question of whether the lower court correctly applied the statute. On remand, the lower court should restrict its review to the number of convictions contained within a single judgment.
¶ 8. The lower court may summarily dismiss a PCR if "it plainly appears from the face of the motion, any annexed exhibits and the prior proceedings in the case that the movant is not entitled to any relief." Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(2) (Rev.2000). The procedural posture of an appeal from summary dismissal of a PCR "is analogous to that when a defendant in a civil action moves to dismiss for failure to state a claim." Young v. State, 731 So.2d 1120, 1122(¶ 6) (Miss.1999) (quoting Myers v. State, 583 So.2d 174, 175-76 (Miss. 1991)). "Thus, as in a 12(b)(6) dismissal, this Court reviews the record de novo to determine whether [the movant] has failed to demonstrate `a claim procedurally alive substantial[ly] showing denial of a state or federal right....'" Young, 731 So.2d at 1122(¶ 9) (quoting Myers, 583 So.2d at 176). "In other words, has [the movant] alleged facts which require further inquiry in the expanded setting of an evidentiary hearing?" Myers, 583 So.2d at 175 (quoting Billiot v. State, 515 So.2d 1234, 1236 (Miss.1987)).
¶ 9. A voluntary guilty plea "emanates from the defendant's informed consent." Myers v. State, 583 So.2d at 177. An allegation that the defendant pled guilty in response to counsel's mistaken advice may vitiate the plea, because it indicates the defendant may not have been fully aware of the consequences of the plea. Id. In his affidavit, Readus avers that his attorney told him that, if he pled guilty, he would be sentenced to "six months and ten years on paper" and that he would "get RID." He also avers his lawyer told him that if he proceeded to trial and was found guilty, he would receive the maximum sentence. Readus' mother's affidavit states that the attorney told her Readus would get "six years and then [the attorney] said something about papers after that." Readus contends the plea was involuntary because he would not have entered the plea had he "known the true effects of the plea" instead of the misinformation provided by his attorney.
¶ 10. The circuit court found that Readus' affidavit was "a sham" because it was belied by the transcript of the plea hearing. Our review of the transcript reveals a facially correct guilty plea. The trial court thoroughly questioned Readus to ascertain voluntariness, and thoroughly advised Readus about the consequences of the plea, including the maximum sentence Readus could receive on each charge. Readus answered "yes, sir" or "no, sir" to each question, indicating the plea was voluntary.
¶ 11. This Court's inquiry into this matter continues despite Readus' facially correct plea. In Baker v. State, 358 So.2d 401, 403 (Miss.1978), our supreme court balanced the defendant's constitutional rights against the judicial system's interest in finality of pleas and held that "a per se rule excluding collateral attack on pleas facially correct, is not warranted." Id. Recognizing the presumption of verity attached to a defendant's solemn declarations in open court, the court further held that, to survive summary dismissal, a collateral attack on a facially correct plea must include supporting affidavits of other persons.1 Id.
¶ 12. Though Baker was an appeal from the denial of a writ of error coram nobis, this principle is applied to summary dismissals of motions for post-conviction relief. See Young v. State, 731 So.2d 1120, 1123
(¶ 12) (Miss.1999); Marshall v. State, 680 So.2d 794, 795 (Miss.1996). In the case sub judice, Readus has fulfilled the requirement by attaching his mother's supporting affidavit. Thus, Readus may avoid summary dismissal if his PCR "has alleged facts which require further inquiry in the expanded setting of an evidentiary hearing." See Myers, 583 So.2d at 175.
¶ 13. In Myers, Myers appealed the summary dismissal of his PCR. Myers, 583 So.2d at 177. Myers pled guilty to aggravated assault and received sixteen years' imprisonment. Id. at 175. In his sworn complaint, Myers charged that the plea was involuntary because it was induced by misinformation provided by his attorney. Id. Specifically, Myers alleged that the attorney advised him that if he pled guilty he would receive a sentence of less than...
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