State v. Onate, WD 73778.

• Decision Date: 07 May 2013
• Docket Number: No. WD 73778.,WD 73778.
• Citation: 398 S.W.3d 102
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Antonio ONATE, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

398 S.W.3d 102

STATE of Missouri, Respondent,

v.Antonio ONATE, Appellant.

No. WD 73778.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Western District.

May 7, 2013.

Chris Koster, Attorney General, Richard A. Starnes, Assistant Attorney General, Jefferson City, MO, for Respondent.

Phillip R. Gibson, Blue Springs, MO, for Appellant.

Before Division Two: ALOK AHUJA, Presiding Judge, and KAREN KING MITCHELL and GARY D. WITT, Judges.

KAREN KING MITCHELL, Judge.

Antonio Onate appeals the denial of a “Motion for New Trial” that he filed following his convictions and sentences, entered upon guilty pleas, for felonious restraint and second-degree (felony) murder. Finding no authority for a “Motion for New Trial” following a guilty plea, the plea court converted Onate's motion into a Rule 29.07(d)¹ motion to withdraw the guilty pleas and, thereafter, denied the motion on its merits. Though the court should have simply denied the motion for lacking any legal authority, rather than converting it and ruling on the merits, we affirm the denial under the principle that the court reached the correct result, even though it was for an erroneous reason.

Factual Background

Onate's wife was having an affair with Victim. Onate tried, unsuccessfully, several times to end the affair. Onate eventually approached a worker (Employee) in the restaurant Onate owned, and offered to pay Employee a large sum of money to make Victim “go away.” Onate expected that Employee would physically harm Victim.

Six days later, Employee and two other men picked Victim up and drove him around, refusing to let Victim leave the vehicle. One of the men shot Victim in the head, another one stabbed Victim repeatedly in the neck, and after he was pulled out of the vehicle, Victim was shot again. Victim died from his injuries, and Onate and Employee were subsequently charged with first-degree murder.

Although Onate admitted his involvement, he denied any intent that Victim be murdered, and he took a lie-detector test, which revealed results supporting his claim. Onate ultimately entered into a plea agreement with the State wherein he agreed to plead guilty to felonious restraint and second-degree (felony) murder in exchange for the State agreeing not to pursue any further charges against Onate stemming from Victim's death. To this end, Onate submitted a Petition to Enter Plea of Guilty to the court, wherein the plea agreement was set forth, Onate recited facts supporting his guilt of the charged crimes, and he acknowledged that the sentence he would receive would be wholly within the discretion of the trial judge.

During the plea proceeding, Onate advised the court that his “complete agreement” with the State was that, in exchange for Onate's guilty plea, the State would refrain from filing any additional charges based upon the discovery in the case. He further indicated that, apart from the terms of the plea agreement recited within the Petition, no other representations were made inducing him to plead guilty. Onate specifically denied that plea counsel—or anyone else—made any promises or representations to him that, if he pled guilty, he would receive any particular sentence. Onate denied the existence of any additional promises or representations made to him “other than what [was] discussed ... in open court” during the plea hearing.

At the sentencing hearing, after Onate put on evidence, the court reiterated the terms of the plea agreement, as described during the plea proceeding, and asked if there was anything else the State wished to present. The State advised the court, “Your Honor, the other further agreement of the State was that the State agreed to ask for no more in terms of sentencing than Defendant Hernandez ² might receive.” (Emphasis added.) Earlier that day, Defendant Hernandez was sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment for second-degree murder. Immediately after the State made this assertion, one of Onate's two defense attorneys approached another prosecutor on the case, while the hearing continued, and indicated that his understanding was that the State would seek a prison term less than that received by Defendant Hernandez. The prosecutor advised Onate's counsel that the State agreed only to refrain from seeking a sentence that was greater than what Defendant Hernandez received. Onate's second defense counsel was invited into the conversation, and he also indicated his understanding that the State would seek a sentence less than what Defendant Hernandez received. Neither counsel nor Onate made any statements on the record regarding their understanding of the State's agreement as to sentencing recommendation.

After argument, the State requested that Onate be sentenced to concurrent terms of thirty years for second-degree murder and seven years for felonious restraint. Defense counsel argued for concurrent terms of ten years and seven years. Onate then addressed the court, apologizing for his actions and expressing remorse. Without any further comment from either Onate or his counsel, the court sentenced Onate to life imprisonment for second-degree murder and a concurrent term of seven years' imprisonment for felonious restraint.

After pronouncing sentence, the court questioned Onate again about the voluntariness of his plea and about counsel's representation. Onate again denied that counsel or anyone else had made any promises or representations to him as to what sentence he would receive in the case.

Onate subsequently filed a “Motion for New Trial for Default of State of Missouri on Essential Terms of Plea Agreement.” Attached to the motion were affidavits from Defendant Hernandez's trial counsel and from one of Onate's two plea counsel. The motion and accompanying affidavits indicated that the State had agreed to recommend, for Onate, a sentence less than that received by Defendant Hernandez, and that, by recommending a sentence equal to that received by Defendant Hernandez, the State breached an essential term of the plea agreement, rendering Onate's plea involuntary. Onate also filed suggestions in support of his “Motion for New Trial,” attaching an affidavit from himself, indicating that he relied upon the State's purported agreement to recommend a sentence less than that received by Defendant Hernandez in deciding whether to plead guilty.

The State filed suggestions in opposition, attaching an affidavit from one of the prosecutors indicating that, before Onate entered his plea, the prosecutor informed Onate's counsel that, while the State refused to agree to any set term of years for Onate's sentence, it would not seek a term of imprisonment greater than what Defendant Hernandez might receive.

Thereafter, the trial court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law, rejecting Onate's “Motion for New Trial.” The court first noted that a motion for new trial was inappropriate, given that Onate pled guilty; consequently, the court indicated that it was treating Onate's motion as either a Rule 29.07(d) motion to withdraw a guilty plea or a Rule 24.035 motion for post-conviction relief. The court then determined that the agreement as to what sentence the prosecutor would recommend was not an essential term of Onate's plea agreement based on the fact that it was never mentioned during the plea hearing or set forth in the Petition to Enter Plea of Guilty. The court specifically found that the assertions set forth in Onate's affidavit lacked credibility. Finally, the court determined that the State complied with the actual terms of the plea agreement and denied Onate relief. Onate appeals.

Analysis

“In a direct appeal of a judgment and sentence entered as a result of a guilty plea, our review is restricted to [claims involving] the subject-matter jurisdiction of the trial court and the sufficiency of the information or indictment.” State v. Klaus, 91 S.W.3d 706, 706 (Mo.App. E.D.2002). Challenges to either the voluntariness of the plea or “the legality of the sentence imposed may be considered only in response to a Rule 24.035 motion.” Id.;State v. Phillips, 204 S.W.3d 729, 732 (Mo.App. S.D.2006).

Here, Onate's claim essentially challenges the voluntariness of his guilty pleas, which is a matter exclusively within the province of Rule 24.035. That being said, however, there is authority for the proposition that a direct appeal following a guilty plea also lies where the claim of error involves the overruling of a motion to withdraw a guilty plea, so long as the defendant has been sentenced before appeal. Stevens v. State, 208 S.W.3d 893, 894–95 (Mo. banc 2006); State v. Fensom, 69 S.W.3d 550, 551 (Mo.App. W.D.2002).

Although Onate's “Motion for New Trial” sought to withdraw his plea, Onate failed to invoke any legal authority under which the court could do so. Recognizing that a motion for new trial was an inappropriate avenue for allowing Onate to withdraw his plea,³ the court treated Onate's motion as a motion pursuant to Rule 29.07(d), which provides:

A motion to withdraw a plea of guilty may be made only before sentence is imposed or when imposition of sentence is suspended; but to correct manifest injustice the court after sentence may set aside the judgment of conviction and permit the defendant to withdraw his plea.

Onate's motion, however, could not be treated as a Rule 29.07(d) motion. In Brown v. State, 66 S.W.3d 721 (Mo. banc 2002), the Supreme Court gave a thorough history of Rule 29.07(d) and its interaction with the post-conviction rules. Id. at 724–29. The Court determined that, under the current rules, Rule 29.07(d) has a very limited role following the imposition of sentence. Id. at 730–31 & 731 n. 5. According to Brown, although Rule 29.07(d) may permit broader relief at earlier stages of a criminal proceeding, following the defendant's sentencing and remand to the Department of Corrections a Rule 29.07(d) motion is allowed only if it raises “grounds [for relief] other than those enumerated in Rule 24.035.” ⁴Id. at 731 n....