State v. Baudoin

• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: SANDERS
• Citation: State v. Baudoin, 334 So.2d 186 (La. 1976)
• Decision Date: 22 June 1976
• Docket Number: No. 57445,57445
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Melvin BAUDOIN and Errol Falcon.

Page 186

334 So.2d 186

STATE of Louisiana v. Melvin BAUDOIN and Errol Falcon.

No. 57445.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

June 22, 1976.

James B. O'Neill, Zwolle, Gordon Hackman, Boutte, for defendants-appellants.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., James L. Davis, Dist. Atty., E. L. Edwards, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

SANDERS, Chief Justice.

The State charged the defendants, Melvin Baudoin and Errol Falcon, by bill of information filed in March of 1975 with theft of an outboard motor in violation of LSA-R.S. 14:67. On May 22, 1975, the defendants pleaded guilty, and on September 2, 1975, the judge sentenced each of them to six years imprisonment at hard labor.

Subsequently, the defendants applied for a writ of habeas corpus to this Court, which we granted on November 14, 1975, with the following order:

'Writ granted. It is ordered that the trial court hold an evidentiary hearing to determine whether or not there was an unkept plea bargain and rule upon the case in light of Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971).'

La., 322 So.2d 771 (1975). The trial court held the evidentiary hearing as ordered, found that the defendants had failed to discharge their burden of proving an unkept plea bargain, and denied relief. The trial judge did not rule on other legal questions arising from the evidence because of the limited mandate of this Court.

The defendants again applied to this Court for a writ of habeas corpus. We elected to grant supervisory writs. The case is now before us for decision.

The following facts are important in our decision in this matter. Defendants, as well as five of their relatives and their present attorney, attested to the fact that the defendants were informed by their original attorney that if they pleaded guilty, they would be sentenced to six months imprisonment, and possibly they would be released on probation after serving only two months of the sentence. They allege that they were promised also that they would be allowed to withdraw their guilty pleas if the sentences imposed were greater than anticipated. In reliance on these promises, defendants did plead guilty and answered the judge's Boykin questions pursuant to instructions from their attorney.

The original defense attorney testified that a plea bargain had been perfected between himself and the district attorney, who he believed had spoken to the judge about the sentencing, that he informed everyone involved about the plea bargain, and that he had even written a note to the defendants about the agreement because they wanted some assurance in writing. On the morning of the sentencing, September 2, 1975, the defendants paid the Sheriff of Sabine Parish $275.00 for the cost of their transportation on a previous trial date from their residence in another parish to the courthouse. Defendants understood that the payment was necessary as part of the bargain since the District Attorney, upon entering the courtroom that morning, had said 'all deals are off' unless the money was paid. Before sentence was imposed, when it became evident that the defendants were not going to receive the expected sentence, they moved to withdraw their guilty pleas. The judge denied the motion. Defense counsel then moved to withdraw from the case. This motion was likewise denied. The trial judge then sentenced both defendants to six years imprisonment. Subsequently, the original defense attorney, who was not present at the sentencing, wrote a letter to the prosecuting attorney, expressing his distress over the unkept plea bargain.

The trial judge testified that he never makes agreements about sentencing and that no attorney for either the State or the defense spoke to him about a plea bargain in this case. The District Attorney, with whom the plea bargain was allegedly made, testified that he did not recall the discussion with defense counsel. However, he did not specifically deny making...