State v. Smith, 20150736-CA
| Decision Date | 27 July 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 20150736-CA,20150736-CA |
| Citation | 427 P.3d 1251 |
| Parties | STATE of Utah, Appellee, v. Cody C. SMITH, Appellant. |
| Court | Utah Court of Appeals |
David M. Perry, Attorney for Appellant
Sean D. Reyes, Salt Lake City, and Lindsey Wheeler, Attorneys for Appellee
Judge Gregory K. Orme authored this Opinion. Judge David N. Mortensen concurred. Judge Ryan M. Harris concurred, with opinion, in which Judge David N. Mortensen joined.
¶1 Facing fourteen charges of sexual misconduct with children, Defendant Cody C. Smith entered into a plea arrangement whereby he pled no contest to two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. Before sentencing, Defendant moved to withdraw his pleas. The trial court denied his motion and proceeded to the sentencing stage. Defendant now appeals the court’s order denying his plea withdrawal motion. We affirm.
¶2 Defendant was charged with three counts of rape of a child, six counts of object rape, one count of criminal solicitation, one count of forcible sexual abuse, and three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. He was bound over on all charges, and the case proceeded to trial.
¶3 The trial court held a plea hearing on the second day of trial upon being informed that Defendant had reached a plea agreement with the State. At the hearing, Defendant’s trial counsel informed the court that, in exchange for pleading no contest to two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, the State had agreed to drop all fourteen original charges and to recommend that Defendant be sentenced to two terms of six years to life in prison. As a part of the agreement, Defendant would be taken into custody immediately after the plea hearing.
¶4 Defendant’s counsel then turned her attention to the plea affidavit, which, she assured the court, she had "thoroughly" reviewed with Defendant prior to the plea hearing. The affidavit recited that the at the sentencing hearing, with the caveat that the State’s recommendations were "not binding on the judge." It further recited that Defendant "will be taken into custody today." Finally, immediately above the space for Defendant’s signature, the affidavit recited the following, in bold print: "I will only be allowed to withdraw my plea if I show that it was not knowingly and voluntarily made."
¶5 When prompted by the court, Defendant signed the plea affidavit, thereby attesting that he had "read this statement" or "had it read to [him] by [his] attorney" and that he "underst[ood] its contents and adopt[ed] each statement in it" as his own. Further, by signing, he certified that he had "fully discussed" the contents of the affidavit with his counsel and that he was "satisfied with [her] advice and assistance."
¶6 After Defendant had signed the plea affidavit, the court commenced the plea colloquy. The court began by inquiring whether Defendant had "consumed any alcohol or drugs before coming to court" and whether he was "thinking clearly." Defendant responded that he was not under the influence of any substance and that he had a clear mind. The court then asked, "Do you understand what’s taking place?" Defendant responded, "For the most part, yes."
At that point, Defendant’s counsel turned to him, saying, "I’m sure the judge will take that into consideration." When asked by the court whether the agreement was contingent on Defendant’s immediate incarceration, the State responded in the affirmative, explaining that it was necessary to prevent Defendant from "harm[ing] himself" and that he had already "been out on bail for quite some time." The court then continued the colloquy and did not broach the immediate-incarceration issue again.
¶8 After confirming that Defendant had been given "enough time to speak with" his attorney, the court asked Defendant whether he "underst[ood] the constitutional rights" that were "set forth in [the] document that [he] signed." When Defendant hesitated, the court offered this clarification:
The court then asked the State to provide a factual basis for the plea, and Defendant stated that he did not wish to contest the State’s allegations. Finally, Defendant confirmed that, "after speaking with [his] attorney," it was his belief that accepting the State’s agreement was in his best interest.
¶9 With that, the court accepted Defendant’s pleas "as having knowingly and voluntarily been given." The court further explained that Defendant had "the right to withdraw [his] guilty plea on good cause shown ... prior to sentencing," and Defendant’s counsel took no issue with the court’s statement. When the hearing ended, Defendant was immediately taken into custody.
¶10 After retaining new counsel, but still prior to sentencing, Defendant moved to withdraw his no-contest pleas. In his motion, Defendant claimed that he had not read or understood the contents of the plea affidavit; that he did not understand "certain crucial aspects of his plea," including that he would be taken into custody immediately and that he would be exposed to the risk of a life sentence; that the State had improperly withheld a "quarter-inch stack" of incriminating papers during discovery; that, rather than asking for a continuance to analyze the incriminating papers, his initial trial counsel coerced him into accepting the plea agreement by showing him the papers on the evening of the first day of trial; and, finally, that the trial court had misinformed him of the standard for withdrawing his pleas. For these reasons, Defendant maintained that his initial counsel rendered ineffective assistance and that his plea was not entered knowingly and voluntarily.
¶11 The trial court addressed Defendant’s motion in a bifurcated manner. In its first "partial order," the court rejected Defendant’s contention that he had been misinformed of the proper legal standard because the proper "knowing and voluntary" language was reflected in the plea colloquy transcript. The court further determined that Defendant had not been prejudiced by its improper reference during the colloquy to a "good cause" standard for plea withdrawal because, as it turned out, Defendant timely filed the motion and cited the proper standard.
¶12 Before ruling on the remaining issues in Defendant’s motion, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing. At the hearing, Defendant’s initial trial counsel testified that the State came to Defendant with the offer of a plea bargain on the first day of trial and that there were two "turning point[s]" in the ensuing negotiations. The first was the State’s strict deadline: if Defendant did not accept the plea agreement before the second day of trial, when Victim was scheduled to testify, there would be no deal. The second was that Defendant was permitted to speak with Victim while the negotiations took place. Counsel testified that Defendant was moved by the time spent with Victim, and it was counsel’s opinion that the meeting had a "huge impact" on Defendant’s decision to accept the State’s offer.
¶13 Defendant’s initial counsel further testified that she discussed the State’s offer and the contents of the plea affidavit with Defendant for a "substantial period of time" on the evening of the first day of trial and the morning of the second. To begin with, she testified that she explained to Defendant that the State insisted he be taken into custody immediately after the plea hearing. She also explained to him, "again and again," that the agreed-upon sentence was six-to-life. Additionally, in view of the "twisted and bizarre" nature of the evidence, she testified that she told Defendant that she believed accepting the offer was in his best interest. She explained that she was particularly concerned about Defendant’s case after observing the jury during the first day of trial, noting that one juror had advised the court he could not "do this anymore" and asked to be excused.
¶14 Defendant’s initial counsel also testified regarding the incriminating papers Defendant described in his motion. She explained that the papers, which consisted of a stack of photos the prosecution had downloaded from Defendant’s phone, had been disclosed to her prior to trial in the form of a police report containing detailed descriptions of the photos. She further testified that she had seen copies of all the photos before trial, with the exception of one, which depicted a nude girl with the word "TeenMegaWorld" printed near the bottom. Counsel explained that she had waited to view the photo until the...
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State v. Ciccolelli
...the court’s underlying findings of fact "only if they are clearly erroneous." Id. ; see also State v. Smith , 2018 UT App 144, ¶ 19, 427 P.3d 1251.ANALYSIS ¶10 A guilty plea "may be withdrawn only upon leave of the court and a showing that it was not knowingly and voluntarily made." Utah Co......