State v. Fritz
| Decision Date | 11 April 2014 |
| Docket Number | No. 108,292.,108,292. |
| Citation | 321 P.3d 763,299 Kan. 153 |
| Parties | STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Frederick W. FRITZ IV, Appellant. |
| Court | Kansas Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Syllabus by the Court
1. A hearing on a motion to withdraw a plea of nolo contendere is limited to those instances in which the defendant's motion raises substantial issues of fact or law. When the files and records conclusively show that the defendant is entitled to no relief, the motion must be denied.
2. Mere conclusions of the defendant are insufficient to raise a substantial issue of fact when no factual basis is alleged or appears in the record.
Michelle A. Davis, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, was on the brief for appellant.
Lesley A. Isherwood, assistant district attorney, Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, were on the brief for appellee.
Frederick W. Fritz IV appeals from the summary denial of his motion to withdraw his plea of no contest to charges of felony murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, and attempted aggravated robbery.
The State charged Fritz with one count of premeditated murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of aggravated robbery, and four counts of attempted aggravated robbery. On August 16, 2010, he entered a plea of no contest to one count of felony murder, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of aggravated robbery, and four counts of attempted aggravated robbery. On September 30, 2010, the district court sentenced him to a term of life imprisonment plus 652 months.
On December 8, 2010, Fritz docketed his appeal from his sentence. On January 21, 2011, he filed a pro se motion to withdraw his plea, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. Then, on March 14, 2011, he withdrew his motion because his case was pending on appeal. After the parties submitted their appellate briefs but before the case was set on a docket, on December 16, 2011, this court issued an order summarily vacating the sentence and remanding the case to the district court for resentencing.
On March 9, 2012, the district court resentenced Fritz, imposing a hard 20 life sentence plus 330 months. Also on March 9, 2012, new counsel filed a renewed motion in district court seeking leave to withdraw the no contest plea. After hearing brief argument from the parties, the district court denied the motion without conducting an evidentiary hearing. Fritz took a timely appeal to this court.
A district court may, for good cause and at its discretion, allow a defendant to withdraw a plea of guilty or no contest at any time before sentence is adjudged. K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 22–3210(d)(1). In determining whether a defendant has shown good cause to withdraw a plea, a district court should consider three factors, sometimes called the Edgar factors, after State v. Edgar, 281 Kan. 30, 36, 127 P.3d 986 (2006): (1) whether the defendant was represented by competent counsel; (2) whether the defendant was misled, coerced, mistreated, or unfairly taken advantage of; and (3) whether the plea was fairly and understandingly made. State v. Aguilar, 290 Kan. 506, 511, 231 P.3d 563 (2010). These factors should not, however, be applied mechanically and to the exclusion of other factors. State v. Garcia, 295 Kan. 53, 63, 283 P.3d 165 (2012).
After the district court pronounces sentence, it may allow a defendant to withdraw a plea in order “[t]o correct manifest injustice.” K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 22–3210(d)(2).
An appellate court generally reviews the denial of a motion to withdraw a plea for abuse of discretion. The defendant has the burden of proving abuse of discretion. State v. Macias–Medina, 293 Kan. 833, 836, 268 P.3d 1201 (2012). When a motion to withdraw a plea is summarily denied without argument and additional evidence, this court applies the same procedures and standards of review as in cases arising out of K.S.A. 60–1507. This court exercises de novo review because it has the same access to the motion, records, and files as the district court, and it determines whether the motion, records, and files conclusively show that the defendant is entitled to no relief. State v. Moses, 296 Kan. 1126, 1127–28, 297 P.3d 1174 (2013).
The State takes the position that the district court lacked jurisdiction over Fritz' motion because the mandate of this court limited the scope of the district court's authority to resentencing. The State essentially advocates penalizing defendants who successfully appeal from their sentences by preventing them from filing motions to withdraw their guilty pleas after they win their appeals. K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 22–3210 permits defendants to withdraw their pleas “at any time before sentence is adjudged” and “within one year” of “[t]he final order of the last appellate court in this state to exercise jurisdiction on a direct appeal or the termination of such appellate jurisdiction.” K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 22–3210(d), (e)(1).
Fritz may have been precluded from filing his motion to withdraw his plea while his conviction and sentence were on appeal. See, e.g., State v. McDaniel, 255 Kan. 756, 761, 877 P.2d 961 (1994); State v. Dedman, 230 Kan. 793, 796–97, 640 P.2d 1266 (1982) (). If, as the State contends, the district court also did not have jurisdiction over the motion after Fritz won his appeal, then his time to file a motion to withdraw his plea and receive relief from the district court would be limited to the approximately 9 weeks between the date of his original sentence and the docketing of his original appeal. Such a short time would conflict with the statutory language plainly giving him 1 year to file his motion to withdraw his plea. Furthermore, if the district court failed to act on his motion before he docketed the appeal, he would presumably be forever barred from filing such a motion under the State's theory. Such results are inconsistent both with the statutory scheme and with fundamental fairness. We therefore decline to adopt the State's theory that a defendant may not move to withdraw a guilty plea after a case is remanded from the appellate courts for resentencing.
Fritz asserts several grounds as a basis for withdrawing his plea: First, he was not sleeping well while in jail, which left him vulnerable to pressure from his attorney, who urged him to enter into the plea and who misled him as to...
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State v. Thomas
...in this case. Once the case is appealed and the appeal is docketed, the district court loses jurisdiction. State v. Fritz , 299 Kan. 153, 155, 321 P.3d 763 (2014). And once the conviction and sentence are affirmed on appeal, the opportunity to generate the necessary conditions precedent to ......
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...the motion, records, and files conclusively show that the defendant is entitled to no relief. [Citations omitted.]" State v. Fritz , 299 Kan. 153, 154-55, 321 P.3d 763 (2014)."Summary disposition is appropriate if there is no substantial question of law or triable issue of fact and the file......
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...factors should not, however, be applied mechanically and to the exclusion of other factors. [Citation omitted.]” State v. Fritz, 299 Kan. 153, 154, 321 P.3d 763 (2014).Ruiz first contends that he was not represented by competent counsel at his plea hearing. Specifically, he alleges that Mau......