State v. Maguire, 900555
| Decision Date | 09 July 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 900555,900555 |
| Citation | 830 P.2d 216 |
| Parties | STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Petitioner, v. Brian E. MAGUIRE, Defendant and Respondent. |
| Court | Utah Supreme Court |
Brian E. Maguire, pro se.
ON CERTIORARI TO THE UTAH COURT OF APPEALS
On August 10, 1988, defendant Brian E. Maguire filed a motion to withdraw his no-contest plea to a charge of aggravated assault. The motion was denied. Defendant successfully appealed from the denial of that motion. In an unpublished memorandum decision, the court of appeals ruled that the trial court failed to strictly comply with rule 11 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure and with State v. Gibbons, 740 P.2d 1309 (Utah 1987). The State petitioned for certiorari, which we granted, asking this court to decide whether the court of appeals had erroneously interpreted Gibbons.
In Gibbons, this court adopted a "strict compliance" test which superseded the "record as a whole" test traditionally applied on review in cases dealing with knowing and voluntary guilty pleas.
On July 3, 1991, this court issued its decision in State v. Hoff, 814 P.2d 1119 (Utah 1991), which is dispositive of the issue presented in this case.
The decision of the court of appeals vacating defendant's conviction and remanding the case for a withdrawal of plea is affirmed.
Without granting the State's request for rehearing, this court accepts the State's invitation to discuss more fully the test to be applied in reviewing the validity of a post-Gibbons guilty plea. The State has posed a stark dichotomy between the post-Gibbons "strict compliance" test and the pre-Gibbons "record as a whole" test for adherence to rule 11 requirements, arguing by implication that the two tests are incompatible.
We reject the dichotomy 1 and restate our holding that (1) strict compliance with the elements of rule 11 is required in the taking of guilty pleas and (2) said compliance may be demonstrated on appeal by reference to the record of the plea proceedings. When plea affidavits are properly incorporated in the record (as when the trial judge ascertains in the plea colloquy that the defendant has read, has understood, and acknowledges all the information contained therein), they may properly form a part of the basis for finding rule 11 compliance. As the court of appeals recently observed in State v. Smith:
It is critical, however, that strict Rule 11 compliance be demonstrated on the record at the time the ... plea is entered. Therefore, if an affidavit is used to aid Rule 11 compliance, it must be addressed during the plea hearing. The trial court must conduct an inquiry to establish that the defendant understands the affidavit and voluntarily signed it.... Any omissions or ambiguities in the affidavit must be clarified during the plea hearing, as must any uncertainties raised in the course of the plea colloquy. Then the affidavit itself, signed by the required parties, can be incorporated into the record. The efficiency-promoting function of the affidavit is thereby served, in that the court need not repeat, verbatim, Rule 11 inquiries that are clearly posed and answered in the affidavit, unless Rule 11 by its terms specifically requires such repetition.
812 P.2d 470, 477 (Utah Ct.App.1991) (citations omitted), cert. denied (Feb. 28, 1992).
Rule 11 requires the trial court to find that seven detailed and specific criteria have been fulfilled. Utah R.Crim.P. 11(5)(a)-(g). The record before an appellate court must contain a basis for such findings, but that record may reflect such a basis by multiple means, e.g., transcript of the oral colloquy between the court and defendant, contents of a written affidavit that the record reflects was read, understood, and acknowledged by defendant and the court, contents of other documents such as the information, presentence reports, exhibits, etc., similarly incorporated into the record, and so on. The State's argument has implied that this court's strict compliance test requires a time-consuming, mechanical oral recitation of each element mentioned in rule 11. 2 We hope to make clear that strict compliance can be accomplished by multiple means so long as no requirement of the rule is omitted and so long as the record reflects that the requirement has been fulfilled.
As we noted in State v. Hoff, 814 P.2d at 1123, "Gibbons was indeed intended to change both the practice and the standard for taking guilty pleas." What we said in Hoff about the substantial compliance test (namely, that its presence would "necessarily turn on the facts of each case," id. at 1125) is equally applicable to the strict compliance test we apply in post-Gibbons pleas and to this case....
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State v. Lovell
...as no requirement of the rule is omitted and so long as the record reflects that the requirement has been fulfilled.” State v. Maguire, 830 P.2d 216, 218 (Utah 1992). “Strict compliance ... does not mandate a particular script or rote recitation of the rights listed.... [T]he substantive go......
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State Of Utah v. Lovell
...as no requirement of the rule is omitted and so long as the record reflects that the requirement has been fulfilled." State v. Maguire, 830 P.2d 216, 218 (Utah 1992). "Strict compliance... does not mandate a particular script or rote recitation of the rights listed.... [T]he substantive goa......
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State v. Dean
...that the defendant has read the affidavit or statement, understands its contents, and acknowledges those contents. State v. Maguire, 830 P.2d 216, 217 (Utah 1991) (per curiam). Proper incorporation of plea affidavits can save the court time, eliminate some of the monotony of rote recitation......
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State v. Walker
...37 Other parts of the record also indicate the plea-taking court's substantial compliance with rule 11(e). See State v. Maguire, 830 P.2d 216, 217 n. 1 (Utah 1992) (per curiam) (observing that “it is possible that the definition of the ‘record as a whole’ under the substantial compliance te......