Reyna v. State, 00-193.
| Decision Date | 06 November 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-193.,00-193. |
| Citation | 2001 WY 105,33 P.3d 1129 |
| Parties | Joseph REYNA, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Lynn Boak, Cheyenne, WY, Representing Appellant.
Gay Woodhouse, Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Devon O'Connell Coleman, Interim Director, Prosecution Assistance Program; and Ryan Patrick Healy, Student Intern, Representing Appellee.
Before LEHMAN, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.
[¶ 1] At a change of plea hearing, the appellant, Joseph Reyna, pled guilty to one count of forgery, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-3-602(a)(iii) (LexisNexis 2001), and one count of conspiracy to commit forgery, in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 6-1-303(a) and 6-3-602(a)(i) (LexisNexis 2001), both felonies. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of five to ten years on each charge. After sentencing, the district court denied the appellant's motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. This appeal is from the judgment and sentence and from the denial of the motion to withdraw his guilty pleas.
[¶ 2] We affirm.
[¶ 3] There are four issues presented for review:
[¶ 4] The probable cause affidavit attached to the Information filed in this case alleges that in December of 1999, the appellant and Juan Martinez forged seven checks totaling more than $10,000.00 on the account of Lowell Luebke. Upon his arrest, the appellant filed an affidavit of indigency and a public defender was appointed to represent him. It is disputed in the record whether a preliminary hearing was held or waived.1 At any rate, the appellant was bound over for trial in the district court on both charges.
[¶ 5] At his district court arraignment, the appellant entered pleas of not guilty and moved under W.R.Cr.P. 21.1(a) for peremptory disqualification of the district judge. The case was then assigned to a different district judge. At a change of plea hearing on May 17, 2000, the appellant entered pleas of guilty to both charges and was sentenced as set forth above. The pleas were the result of a limited plea agreement in which the State's only concessions were an agreement not to file additional charges against the appellant and to proceed without a presentence investigation.
[¶ 6] The appellant's trial counsel filed a Notice of Appeal on June 9, 2000. During the pendency of the appeal, the appellant filed a Motion to Withdraw Plea in the district court. This Court entered an Order Granting Motion to Stay Appeal, remanding the case to the district court for resolution of that motion. The district court heard the motion on November 13, 2000, and denied it on November 30, 2000. That denial, in addition to the original judgment and sentence, is the basis for this appeal.
[¶ 7] W.R.Cr.P. 11 sets forth the procedures that must be followed for acceptance of a plea by a criminal defendant. The rule is lengthy and complex. Pertinent to the present discussion are section (b), which describes the advisements that must be given to the defendant, section (d), which requires the court to determine the voluntariness of the plea, section (e)(7), which prohibits waiver of a presentence investigation by plea agreement, section (f), which requires the court to determine the accuracy of the plea by inquiring into the factual basis, and section (h), which allows harmless errors to be disregarded.
[¶ 8] The appellant's first contention is that the district court's colloquy with the appellant was insufficient to establish that the pleas were voluntary or that there was a factual basis for the pleas. He relies on McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 467, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 22 L.Ed.2d 418 (1969) (quoting F.R.Cr.P. 11, Notes on Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules), for the proposition that the judge must determine "`that the conduct which the defendant admits constitutes the offense charged in the indictment or information or an offense included therein to which the defendant has pleaded guilty.'" Specifically, the appellant argues that, conspiracy being a specific intent crime, it was improper for the district court to infer that element from the following exchange between the district court and the appellant:
[¶ 9] We have adopted the following standard of review for cases involving the acceptance of a guilty plea:
The procedure utilized to accept a guilty plea is reviewed by this court as a whole. Smith v. State, 871 P.2d 186, 187 (Wyo.1994). "Our inquiry determines if the district court sufficiently described the nature of the charges, including the possible penalties; informed the defendant of the right to representation; informed the defendant of the rights waived by a guilty plea; and obtained a factual basis for the plea." Mehring [v. State], 860 P.2d [1101] at 1106 [(Wyo.1993)] (emphasis added). These procedural requirements are intended to assure that the individual facing the criminal charges is not misled into an unintentional waiver of substantial rights. Id.
McCarty v. State, 883 P.2d 367, 372 (Wyo. 1994)
. We look to the totality of the circumstances to determine the voluntariness of a plea. Mehring v. State, 860 P.2d 1101, 1108 (Wyo.1993).
[¶ 10] At the change of plea hearing in the instant case, the district court reviewed with the appellant all of the following:
[¶ 11] This list reveals the immediate circumstances under which the district court accepted the factual basis for the conspiracy plea. The appellant's contention that there was insufficient discussion of the specific intent element of conspiracy could implicate either his understanding of the nature of the charge (# 4) or the factual basis for the charge (# 13). The appellant's appellate brief commingles these arguments.
883 P.2d at 374. There was a preliminary hearing. The appellant, himself, raised the idea of waiving the presentence investigation report because he feared the judge would learn that he "may be wanted" in Nebraska "for the same thing not as much money." These circumstances indicate that the appellant made a voluntary plea with a full understanding of the nature of the charges.
[¶ 13] The appellant does not contest that a forgery or forgeries occurred or that there was a sufficient factual basis presented for that crime. His contention is that the factual basis for conspiracy was inadequate because his specific intent—the agreement that a crime be committed—has to be inferred from other statements.4 We disagree. The appellant replied, "Yes," when asked, "And did you have a plan with one or more people to commit forgery." (Emphasis added.) Certainly it does not require much of an inference to conclude that "a plan with one or more people to commit forgery" is substantively the same as "agrees with one (1) or more persons that they ... will commit [forgery]."5 Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-1-303(a).
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