State v. Breiner

• Decision Date: 22 April 1997
• Docket Number: No. 960298,960298
• Parties: STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Jad Karter BREINER, Defendant and Appellant. Criminal
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Page 565

562 N.W.2d 565

1997 ND 71

STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Jad Karter BREINER, Defendant and Appellant.

Criminal No. 960298.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

April 22, 1997.

Brian David Grosinger, Assistant State's Attorney, Mandan, for plaintiff and appellee.

Robert Wade Martin, Bismarck, for defendant and appellant.

MESCHKE, Justice.

¶1 Jad Karter Breiner appealed an order denying his motion to withdraw his plea of guilty to a charge of corrupting a minor. We hold the trial court's failure to inform Breiner that he must register as a sexual offender caused a manifest injustice so the court abused its discretion in denying withdrawal of Breiner's guilty plea. We reverse and remand with instructions.

¶2 Breiner was charged with a class A misdemeanor for violating NDCC 12.1-20-05 by engaging in a sexual act with a minor between the ages of 15 and 18. On May 1, 1996, Breiner's counsel moved to allow Breiner to enter a guilty plea. The court then informed Breiner of his statutory and constitutional rights and inquired to determine whether Breiner's change in plea was voluntary. The court explained to Breiner that the charge was a class A misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Before accepting the guilty plea, however, the court did not inform Breiner that under NDCC 12.1-32-15 he must register as a sexual offender for the next ten years.

¶3 The court accepted Breiner's guilty plea and sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment but suspended six months during two years of supervised probation. The registration requirement was not spelled out in the judgment nor in any other court record.

¶4 Breiner claims he first learned about the registration requirement from State Penitentiary officials when he was imprisoned. On June 15, 1996, Breiner wrote the trial court, stating,

... the problem is sir, that no-one [sic] told me that I would have to registar [sic] as a sex offender, and under that reason alone I would have not plead guilty with-out a change by the States [sic] attorney or by going to trial. So I would please like a court appointed attorney so that I can have help in removing my plea of guilty. Which would not have been made if all of the undisclosed parts of the sentencing would have been known.

Shortly, Breiner's attorney formally moved to withdraw his guilty plea. The trial court concluded Breiner failed to show manifest injustice in the court's acceptance of the guilty plea, and denied the motion. Breiner appealed.

¶5 Criminal procedure permits a defendant to withdraw a guilty plea when it "is necessary to correct a manifest injustice." N.D.R.Crim.P. 32(d). The determination of manifest injustice is ordinarily within the trial court's discretion, and will be reversed on appeal only for an abuse of discretion. State v. Boushee, 459 N.W.2d 552, 556 (N.D.1990). An abuse of discretion under the rule occurs when the court's legal discretion is not exercised in the interests of justice. State v. Trieb, 516 N.W.2d 287, 290-291 (N.D.1994). As State v. Gunwall, 522 N.W.2d 183, 185 (N.D.1994), explains, a manifest injustice includes procedural errors by the sentencing court.

¶6 Breiner claims the trial court's procedural error resulted in a manifest injustice when it did not tell him at his plea that the sexual-offender-registration requirement would apply to him. Criminal procedure directs the trial court to address a pleading defendant personally to inform him of the consequences of a guilty plea, to insure that the plea is voluntary, and to establish the factual basis for the plea.

The court may not accept a plea of guilty without first, by addressing the defendant personally ... in open court, informing the defendant of and determining that the defendant understands the following:

* * * * * *

(2) The mandatory minimum punishment, if any, and the maximum possible punishment provided by the statute defining the offense to which the plea is offered....

N.D.R.Crim.P. 11(b). As precedents like State v. Dalman, 520 N.W.2d 860, 863 (N.D.1994), and Houle v. State, 482 N.W.2d 24, 30 (N.D.1992), explain, before a plea under Rule 11(b), the sentencing court must inform a defendant of all direct consequences of the plea, but need not advise him of collateral consequences.

¶7 Registration as a sexual offender is a collateral, not a direct, consequence of a conviction, many appellate courts have concluded, so that a sentencing court's failure to advise the defendant about it is not grounds for withdrawal of the guilty plea. See, e.g., Matter of B.G.M., 929 S.W.2d 604, 606-607 (Tex.App.1996); Johnson v. State, 922 P.2d 1384, 1387 (Wyo.1996); State v. Ward, 123 Wash.2d 488, 869 P.2d 1062, 1075 (1994); State v. Young, 112 Ariz. 361, 542 P.2d 20, 22 (1975); see also Annot., State Statutes or Ordinances Requiring Persons Previously Convicted of Crime to Register With Authorities, 36 A.L.R.5th 161, § 9 (1996). This majority view reasons that laws requiring a sexual offender to register are largely remedial, not punitive, and are designed to facilitate law enforcement and to protect children.

¶8 In contrast, California holds that sexual offender registration is a direct consequence of conviction and that the sentencing court must advise a defendant of the requirement before accepting the guilty plea. People v. McClellan, 6 Cal.4th 367, 24 Cal.Rptr.2d 739, 745, 862 P.2d 739 (1993) ("error has occurred when the trial court fails to advise a defendant that, as a consequence of [a] plea of guilty ... the defendant must register as a sex offender."); see also In re Birch, 10 Cal.3d 314, 110 Cal.Rptr. 212, 216, 515 P.2d 12 (1973). We are persuaded by the California Supreme Court's rationale that the registration requirement imposes a grave, and even onerous, additional punishment, especially for a misdemeanor offense:

[I]n view of the unusual and onerous nature of the sex registration requirement that follows inexorably from a conviction ... the trial court's duty surely included an obligation to advise petitioner of this sanction prior to accepting his guilty plea.

* * * * * *

While petitioner possibly might have suspected that a guilty plea could result in a short jail sentence, we cannot believe that he was aware that as a consequence of urinating in a parking lot at 1:30 in the morning he would be required to register as a sex offender. Certainly counsel would have advised him of this grave and direct consequence of his guilty plea; in the absence of counsel the responsibility for such advice rested with the court. Without this advice, we conclude that petitioner's waiver of counsel and plea of guilty cannot be regarded as having been knowingly and intelligently made.

Birch, 110 Cal.Rptr. at 216-217, 515 P.2d 12. (Emphasis original). This reasoning corresponds to the statutory obligation of the sentencing court expressed in our North Dakota registration law.

¶9 Whatever the remedial aspect of our sexual offender registration law, our Legislature clearly imposed a duty on the sentencing court to inform a pleading defendant about this consequence of the conviction:

After a person has pled guilty to or been found guilty of a crime against a child or an attempted crime against a child, or after a person has pled guilty or been found guilty as a sexual offender, the court shall impose, in addition to any penalty provided by law, a requirement that the person register, within ten days of coming into a county in which the person resides or is temporarily domiciled, with the chief of police of the city or the sheriff of the county if the person resides in an area other than a city. The court shall require a person to register by stating this requirement on the court records.

NDCC 12.1-32-15(2). (Emphasis added). The registration requirement must be stated "on the court records." This statutory duty of the sentencing court corresponds with the court's procedural duties under N.D.R.Crim.P. 11 to inform the defendant of possible punishments.

¶10 The sentencing court here neither asked Breiner if his counsel had told him about the requirement, nor advised Breiner of the registration requirement on the record. The court also failed to express the requirement in the judgment of conviction or court records, as required by law.

¶11 While in prison, Breiner wrote the court he was not "told" about the registration requirement until prison officials did. If Breiner did not know about the requirement, we believe the trial court's failure to advise Breiner of it at the plea and its subsequent failure to place the requirement in the sentencing records or judgment of conviction resulted in a manifest injustice. We conclude, therefore, the trial court abused its discretion in denying Breiner's motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

¶12 Breiner was represented by counsel at the plea hearing. While a defense counsel need not inform a client "of every conceivable nuance of pleading guilty," State v. Dalman, 520 N.W.2d at 864, an attorney has a duty to inform a client about relevant consequences of the charge and a plea so that the client can make informed decisions. City of Fargo v. Bommersbach, 511 N.W.2d 563, 566 (N.D.1994). This record does not show whether Breiner's counsel had advised him before the plea and sentence about the sex-offender-registration requirement.

¶13 On remand, the trial court may hold an evidentiary hearing on whether Breiner, before pleading guilty, knew about the sexual-offender-registration requirement, notwithstanding the court's failure to advise him of it. See McClellan, 24 Cal.Rptr.2d at 746, 862 P.2d 739 ("when the trial court formally imposed the registration requirement later in the sentencing hearing, the defense had a second opportunity to challenge it but failed to do so" so "defendant waived any claim of prejudice arising from the trial court's error"). If Breiner knew about the need to register when he pled guilty, the court's failure to...