State v. Warren

• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: SCHWARTZMAN, Chief
• Citation: State v. Warren, 25 P.3d 859, 135 Idaho 836 (Idaho App. 2001)
• Decision Date: 29 March 2001
• Docket Number: No. 26096., No. 26095, No. 25594
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Phillip Allen WARREN, Defendant-Appellant. State of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Philip A. Warren, Defendant-Appellant. Philip A. Warren, Petitioner-Appellant, v. State of Idaho, Respondent.

25 P.3d 859

135 Idaho 836

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Phillip Allen WARREN, Defendant-Appellant.

State of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Philip A. Warren, Defendant-Appellant.

Philip A. Warren, Petitioner-Appellant, v. State of Idaho, Respondent.

Nos. 25594, 26095, 26096.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

March 29, 2001.

Ronaldo A. Coulter, State Appellate Public Defender; Molly J. Huskey, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Molly J. Huskey, argued.

Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General; T. Paul Krueger II, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. T. Paul Krueger II, argued.

SCHWARTZMAN, Chief Judge

In this consolidated appeal, Phillip Allen Warren argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea to felony eluding an officer, in denying his I.C.R. 35 motion for correction of sentence, and in summarily dismissing his application for post-conviction relief. We affirm the district court's orders denying Warren's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, his Rule 35 motion, and his application for post-conviction relief.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On July 22, 1998, police officers were called to assist parole officers in seizing a subject wanted on a parole violation. The subject, Warren, fled out the back window of his residence as the police approached. Warren led the police on a chase, first on foot, then in a stolen pickup truck which Warren drove into a farmer's bean field, and then on foot again through a third person's residence. Warren was found hiding under the porch of another house. Warren was charged with eluding a peace officer, a felony pursuant to I.C. § 49-1404(2), and with a persistent violator sentence enhancement, I.C. § 19-2514. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Warren entered an Alford¹ plea to eluding a peace officer, and the state dismissed the persistent violator enhancement.

Prior to sentencing, Warren moved to withdraw his guilty plea, asserting that he pled guilty on his counsel's advice that he would not be permitted to collaterally attack the validity of a prior felony conviction, based upon an alleged ineffective assistance of counsel claim, as a challenge to the persistent violator charge. At the hearing on his motion to withdraw his guilty plea, Warren testified that he only pled guilty to avoid a life sentence and was incorrectly advised by counsel that he could not attack a prior conviction. The district court denied Warren's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, ruling that the time for filing an application for post-conviction relief from Warren's prior conviction had long since passed and that he had no constitutional right to otherwise collaterally attack his prior conviction on the ground of inadequate representation. The district court also ruled that Warren's trial counsel had given him correct advice in telling him he could not collaterally attack his prior conviction as a part of his defense to the persistent violator enhancement filed by the state in this case. Warren's two motions for reconsideration were denied.

At sentencing, the district court imposed a unified term of two years' imprisonment, with one year fixed, to run consecutive to the sentence upon which Warren had been paroled and had parole revoked. This timely appeal follows.

Subsequently, Warren filed an I.C.R. 35 motion to reduce and/or correct his prior 1988 judgment of conviction and sentence for aggravated battery, which had served as one of the predicate convictions for the now dismissed persistent violator sentencing enhancement.² Warren's motion alleged that he had acted in self-defense and that his trial counsel had been ineffective in not presenting certain evidence on that issue, causing his conviction to be unconstitutional. The district court summarily denied Warren's Rule 35 motion from the bench. Warren filed a timely notice of appeal.

Contemporaneous with his Rule 35 motion, Warren filed an application for post-conviction relief alleging, among other things, that his trial counsel had been ineffective in failing to investigate the susceptibility of his prior conviction for aggravated battery to collateral attack on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel. The state moved for summary dismissal on the ground that none of Warren's allegations raised a genuine issue of material fact regarding ineffective assistance of counsel. Warren filed a motion in opposition. The district court held a hearing at which it granted the state's motion for summary dismissal of Warren's application for post-conviction relief. Warren appeals.

II. WARREN'S MOTION TO WITHDRAW HIS GUILTY PLEA BASED UPON HIS ATTEMPT TO COLLATERALLY ATTACK A PRIOR CONVICTION FOR INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL AS A DEFENSE TO A PERSISTENT VIOLATOR ENHANCEMENT

A. Standard Of Review

The decision to grant or deny a motion to withdraw a guilty plea prior to sentencing lies in the discretion of the district court. State v. Carrasco, 117 Idaho 295, 298, 787 P.2d 281, 284 (1990); State v. McFarland, 130 Idaho 358, 361, 941 P.2d 330, 333 (Ct.App.1997). Appellate review of the denial of a motion to withdraw a plea is limited to whether the district court exercised sound judicial discretion as distinguished from arbitrary action. McFarland, 130 Idaho at 361, 941 P.2d at 333. When a district court's discretionary decision in a criminal case is reviewed on appeal, the appellate court conducts a multi-tiered inquiry to determine: (1) whether the lower court correctly perceived the issue as one of discretion; (2) whether the lower court acted within the boundaries of such discretion and consistent with any legal standards applicable to the specific choices before it; and (3) whether the court reached its decision by an exercise of reason. State v. Hedger, 115 Idaho 598, 600, 768 P.2d 1331, 1333 (1989).

B. Analysis

Warren argues that he should have been allowed to withdraw his guilty plea prior to sentencing on the ground that his trial counsel had incorrectly advised him that he could not present evidence collaterally attacking his prior conviction on the ground of ineffective assistance of counsel. As explained by the Idaho Supreme Court in State v. Harper, 129 Idaho 86, 89-90, 922 P.2d 383, 386-87 (1996):

A trial court's discretion in ruling on a motion to withdraw a plea should be liberally exercised. Id. In determining whether to grant a motion to withdraw a guilty plea, the trial court is only required to consider whether: (1) the plea was voluntary in the sense that the defendant understood the nature of the charges and was not coerced; (2) the defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his right to a jury trial, to confront accusers, and to refrain from incriminating himself; and (3) the defendant understood the consequences of pleading guilty. State v. Mauro, 121 Idaho 178, 180, 824 P.2d 109, 111 (1991).

Warren maintains that his former counsel's failure to present certain evidence (hospital records, etc.), contributed to his 1988 conviction for aggravated battery and constituted ineffective assistance of counsel, making that conviction constitutionally invalid for purposes of the persistent violator statute. He claims that the district court in the case at hand abused its discretion in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. In analyzing Warren's claim, we must first determine whether ineffective assistance of counsel is a ground upon which a prior conviction may be found invalid for purposes of application of the persistent violator statute.³

Where the state charges a persistent violator sentencing enhancement, it bears the burden of making a "prima facie showing of the validity of a prior conviction used to enhance a pending crime." State v. Miller, 131 Idaho 288, 294, 955 P.2d 603, 609 (Ct.App.1997). To make such a showing, the state is only required to prove the existence of the convictions through copies of the judgments of conviction or other evidence. State v. Coby, 128 Idaho 90, 92, 910 P.2d 762, 764 (1996); Miller, 131 Idaho at 294, 955 P.2d at 609; State v. Smith, 116 Idaho 553, 560, 777 P.2d 1226, 1233 (Ct.App.1989). As stated by the Idaho Supreme Court in State v. Beloit, 123 Idaho 36, 37, 844 P.2d 18, 19 (1992):

[O]nce the State has made a prima facie showing of the validity of a prior conviction used to enhance a pending crime, the burden of going forward with proof that the conviction was defective because of the denial of some constitutional right may be placed upon the defendant without violating the United States Constitution.

By attempting to challenge the 1988 aggravated battery conviction, Warren is asking a district court to deprive a prior state court judgment of its normal force and effect in a proceeding that has an independent purpose other than to overturn that prior judgment. See Parke v. Raley, 506 U.S. 20, 30, 113 S.Ct. 517, 523, 121 L.Ed.2d 391, 404 (1992). The purpose of the instant proceeding was to determine whether Warren was guilty of violating an Idaho criminal statute—eluding a peace officer—and, if the persistent violator enhancement had not been dismissed as part of his plea agreement, to determine, in a bifurcated hearing, whether he was a persistent violator.

In Custis v. United States, 511 U.S. 485, 496, 114 S.Ct. 1732, 1738, 128 L.Ed.2d 517, 528 (1994), the United States Supreme Court held that a defendant's due process right to collaterally attack a conviction used for sentencing enhancement purposes in a later proceeding is limited to the constitutional defect of failure to appoint counsel. Thus, under the Due Process clause of the Federal Constitution, Warren had no constitutional right to challenge the validity of a prior conviction based upon a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. See also Partee v. Hopkins, 30 F.3d 1011, 1012 (8th Cir.1994). It is well settled that "courts have inherent power to control and prevent abuse of their orders and processes." Mahaffy v. State,...