Wells v. State, 57667
| Decision Date | 14 January 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 57667,No. 1,57667,1 |
| Citation | 504 S.W.2d 96 |
| Parties | Raymond WELLS, Appellant, v. STATE of Missouri, Respondent |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Justin C. Cordonnier, Armstrong, Teasdale, Kramer & Vaughan, St. Louis, for appellant.
John C. Danforth, Atty. Gen., G. Michael O'Neal, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for respondent.
This is an appeal from the denial of a motion to vacate under rule 27.26 V.A.M.R., following an evidentiary hearing. We have jurisdiction, this being a case where notice of appeal was filed prior to the change of jurisdiction which became effective January 1, 1972, and hence we are to retain and decide the case in accordance with provisions to that effect in Sec. 31 of the 1970 amendment to Art. V, Mo.Const., V.A.M.S.
The convictions and judgments which defendant seeks to have vacated are two. In the first one, defendant was tried by a jury and received a life sentence. 1 He waived his right to appeal the murder conviction and at the same time pleaded guilty to a first degree robbery charge growing out of the same transaction. In the robbery case, defendant received a life sentence, to run concurrently with the first life sentence.
Defendant contends that the waiver of the right to appeal the murder conviction and his guilty plea to the robbery charge were not voluntary and understandingly made. He says the plea and waiver were made because he was under the mistaken belief that if he stood trial on the robbery charge the sentence imposed would automatically be consecutive. However, the trial court found that the defendant's main concern in waiving appeal on the murder charge and entering a guilty plea on the robbery charge was the possibility that the death sentence might be imposed if he stood trial again. Without taking space to recite the evidence, the fact is there is ample testimony in the record to support this view and the court's ruling on this point cannot be said to be clearly erroneous.
Defendant argues further, adopting the trial court's determination as to the motivating factor behind his waiver and plea, that they should be set aside as involuntary because made under the threat of the death penalty, but the rule is that 'The dilemma confronting a person charged with first degree murder (whether to plead guilty in the expectation that he would receive a life sentence or stand trial and risk imposition of the death penalty) 'does not amount to coercion of the sort which means that his plea of guilty is coerced and subject to collateral attack.' . . .' Richardson v. State, 470 S.W.2d 479, 484 (Mo.1971).
Defendant's final point is that his waiver and plea should be set aside as involuntary because made under the threat of the robbery charge, which was illegal because in violation of the state and federal prohibition against...
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...the defendant protests his innocence. North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 31, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970); Wells v. State, 504 S.W.2d 96, 97(1) (Mo.1974). We also find it significant that movant waited 41/2 years to file his motion. The trial court properly considered this fact i......
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