Waits v. People, 84SC391
Citation | 724 P.2d 1329 |
Decision Date | 08 September 1986 |
Docket Number | No. 84SC391,84SC391 |
Parties | Jimmy Lee WAITS, Petitioner, v. The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Respondent. |
Court | Colorado Supreme Court |
Norman R. Mueller, Haddon, Morgan & Foreman, P.C., Denver, for petitioner.
Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., John Milton Hutchins, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Dolores S. Atencio, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for respondent.
Norman S. Early, Jr., Dist. Atty., Second Judicial Dist., Brooke Wunnicke, Chief Appellate Deputy Dist. Atty., Donna Skinner Reed, Deputy Dist. Atty., Denver, amicus curiae.
We granted certiorari in People v. Waits, 695 P.2d 1176 (Colo.App.1984), to consider three issues: (1) whether two guilty pleas entered by the defendant, Jimmy L. Waits, met the requirements of Crim.P. 11 and due process of law; (2) whether attempted felony murder is a valid offense, and if not, whether Waits's guilty plea to attempted felony murder extinguishes his due process right to be advised of the nature of the offense; and (3) whether, given that Waits entered his guilty plea following a suppression ruling by this court that we later overruled, Waits's guilty pleas were knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered. We decide that the Crim.P. 11 advisement on attempted felony murder was inadequate and therefore vacate the plea to that charge. The guilty plea to second degree burglary, however, met the requirements of Crim.P. 11 and due process and was knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered based on the applicable law concerning searches at the time of the plea. Finally, we determine that the People may retain the present sentence for the burglary plea or may retry the defendant on the attempted murder charge, in which case the entire plea package is vacated. We therefore reverse in part and affirm in part the judgment of the court of appeals.
On February 15, 1977, the defendant was charged with second degree burglary under section 18-4-203, 8 C.R.S. (1978), after police officers found in the defendant's car objects reported stolen from a home a few days earlier. The district court suppressed the evidence found in the car because the court determined that the defendant's action to evade the police officers did not justify the officers' subsequent investigatory stop and search of the car. In the People's interlocutory appeal in People v. Waits, 196 Colo. 35, 580 P.2d 391 (1978), this court reversed the suppression order, ruling that the defendant's evasive maneuvers gave rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity sufficient to support an investigatory stop.
On December 18, 1978, the defendant was charged with attempted first degree murder under section 18-2-101, 8 C.R.S. (1978), based on evidence that during the night of December 15, 1978, after the victim found the defendant standing in the victim's living room, the defendant stabbed the victim a number of times. The victim escaped and ultimately recovered from the stab wounds; the defendant was arrested inside the victim's home. The December 18, 1978, information included two habitual criminal counts. § 16-13-101(1), 8 C.R.S. (1978). 1
On January 30, 1979, after this court's reversal of the suppression order in the burglary case, the defendant pleaded guilty to attempted first degree murder, second degree burglary, and the habitual criminal charges. At the advisement the defendant stated that he understood the elements of attempted first degree murder and second degree burglary and that he was the person convicted of two prior felonies in New Mexico. The court sentenced him to two concurrent prison terms of twenty-five to fifty years, and other charges pending against him were dismissed. 2
On November 3, 1980, the defendant filed a Crim.P. 35(c) motion asserting that the district court had failed to comply with Crim.P. 11 because its explanation of the elements of first degree murder and second degree burglary was inadequate. At the hearing on his motion, the defendant testified that he did not know during the advisement whether he was pleading guilty to attempted murder or murder or what the elements of burglary were. The district court denied the defendant's Crim.P. 35(c) motion, ruling that the defendant stated during the advisement that he understood the nature of the charge, that the advising court 3 explained to the defendant what criminal attempt meant, that the court satisfactorily explained the elements of burglary, and that the defendant had past experiences with court cases involving burglary.
Prior to oral argument in the court of appeals on the defendant's Crim.P. 35(c) claim, this court, in People v. Thomas, 660 P.2d 1272 (Colo.1983), overruled People v. Waits, 196 Colo. 35, 580 P.2d 391. In Thomas, 660 P.2d at 1277, we held that efforts to avoid police contact, by themselves, are insufficient to provide a reasonable suspicion for an investigative stop. Based on Thomas, the defendant requested remand of his appeal to allow the district court to consider whether his guilty pleas, entered after an allegedly erroneous ruling upholding the seizure of evidence, were knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. On remand, the district court ruled that a defendant who pleads guilty waives his right to challenge illegally seized evidence.
The court of appeals affirmed the district court's rulings on the ground that because the defendant received a substantial benefit 4 by pleading guilty to attempted first degree murder and second degree burglary, a denial of postconviction relief was proper. Noting that a coherent advisement of the elements of attempted felony murder would be impossible, the court of appeals determined that the district court's discussion of the range of penalties facing the defendant based on his plea and the defendant's agreement to those penalties barred a challenge to the advisement. The court of appeals ruled also that the district court adequately explained the nature and elements of second degree burglary given the defendant's previous experience in pleading guilty to burglary charges. Finally, the court of appeals agreed with the district court that the defendant's guilty plea to burglary waived his right to collaterally attack the suppression issue.
The defendant asserts that his guilty pleas to attempted first degree murder and second degree burglary were entered in violation of Crim.P. 11 and due process of law because the advisement concerning attempted first degree murder was nonsensical and because the advisement concerning second degree burglary failed to define and explain the terms "intent," "specific intent," and "theft." Due process requires that a court accept a guilty plea only when it has ascertained that the plea is voluntary, knowing, and intelligent. See Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969); People v. Cabral, 698 P.2d 234 (Colo.1985); Harshfield v. People, 697 P.2d 391, 393 (Colo.1985); People v. Leonard, 673 P.2d 37, 39 (Colo.1983); see also People v. Mozee, 723 P.2d 117, 121-22 n. 4 (Colo.1986) ( ).
Crim.P. 11, which contains the procedure for taking guilty pleas in accordance with constitutional requirements, Leonard, 673 P.2d at 39-40, provides in pertinent part:
(b) The court shall not accept a plea of guilty or a plea of nolo contendere without first determining that the defendant has been advised of all the rights set forth in Rule 5(a)(2) and also determining:
(1) That the defendant understands the nature of the charge and the elements of the offense to which he is pleading and the effect of his plea....
In meeting the requirements of Crim.P. 11, we have not required courts to proceed in a formulaic manner, see Wilson v. People, 708 P.2d 792 (Colo.1985), but have held instead that the explanation necessary depends on the nature and complexity of the crime. Cabral, 698 P.2d 234; Wright v. People, 690 P.2d 1257, 1261 (Colo.1984). However, the record must show that the defendant understood the critical elements, including the intent requirement, of the crime to which the plea is tendered. Wilson, 708 P.2d 792; Cabral, 698 P.2d 234; Watkins v. People, 655 P.2d 834 (Colo.1983).
A.
The district court gave the following attempted first degree murder advisement:
Q. In Case CR-11604, in Count 1, Mr. Waits, you are charged that on the 15th day of December, at the City and County of Denver, State of Colorado, Jimmy L. Waits, that is you, did unlawfully and feloniously attempt to commit the crime of First Degree Murder, which is a Class 1 felony, against [the victim] and did engage in conduct constituting a substantial step toward the commission of said crime, as defined by 18-3-102, C.R.S. 1973, as amended; contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the People of the State of Colorado.
Do you understand the nature of the charge?
A. Yes.
Q. You understand that the elements of First Degree Murder are that you, acting either alone or with one or more persons, committed or attempted to commit, and in the course of or furtherance of the crime that he is committing or attempting to [commit], or of immediate flight therefrom, the death of a person, other than than one of the participants, is caused.
You understand that the elements--those are the elements of murder, and the District Attorney would have to prove all the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.
Do you have any questions about those elements, sir?
(Emphasis added.) Later, in...
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