Yonga v. State
Decision Date | 27 January 2016 |
Docket Number | No. 30, Sept. Term, 2015.,30, Sept. Term, 2015. |
Citation | 446 Md. 183,130 A.3d 486 |
Parties | Sam YONGA v. STATE of Maryland. |
Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
William M. Ferris (Krause & Ferris, Annapolis, MD), on brief, for Petitioner.
Carrie J. Williams, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Brian E. Frosh, Atty. Gen. of Maryland, Baltimore, MD), on brief, for Respondent.
Matthew W.S. Estes, Esquire, Donald P. Salzman, Esquire, Washington, DC, for
Amicus Curiae Brief of the Mid–Atlantic Innocence Project and the University of Baltimore Innocence Project Clinic.
ARGUED BEFORE: BARBERA, C.J., BATTAGLIA, GREENE, ADKINS, McDONALD, GLENN T. HARRELL, JR., (Retired, Specially Assigned) and JOHN F. McAULIFFE, (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ.
According to the statement of facts presented by the State during the guilty plea proceeding involving Petitioner, Sam Yonga, it was late in 2006 when Yonga, then a 25 year-old immigrant from Sierra Leone, traveled from Prince George's County to an apartment in Baltimore County to meet with T.R.,1 a 13 year old girl who lived there with her mother. He had become acquainted with T.R. over a phone chat line some weeks earlier, during which conversation Yonga told T.R. that his name was Mohammad.
Yonga and T.R. decided to meet on a day that T.R. would pretend to be ill, in order to stay home from school. After they met at the apartment, the two began kissing, and Yonga, at times, touched T.R.'s breasts. Eventually, the pair moved to T.R.'s mother's bedroom; T.R. removed her clothing while Yonga took off his pants and underwear. After Yonga and T.R. moved to the bed, they began to have sexual intercourse when they were interrupted by the unexpected return of T.R.'s mother.
Yonga quickly left the apartment, and dropped his cell phone, which was retrieved by T.R.'s mother, who called police and reported the incident, after having learned Yonga's name and address from his mother whose phone number was in the cell phone. T.R.'s mother then took her daughter to a local clinic for an examination and for a shot of Depo–Provera
, a birth control implant.2
Yonga initially denied knowing T.R. and denied having initiated sexual intercourse, but admitted to "kissing and touching" her on a porch outside the apartment.
Yonga was arrested and charged with second degree rape3 and a third degree sexual offense.4 He pled guilty to the third degree sexual offense during a colloquy conducted by Judge Dana Levitz, then an active judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. During the colloquy, Judge Levitz assured that Yonga's plea was given freely, voluntarily and knowingly and that Yonga understood that the plea had been negotiated as one binding upon the Judge in terms of sentencing:5
Judge Levitz also advised Yonga of possible implications of the guilty plea on his immigration status:6
Judge Levitz then explained to Yonga that, by pleading guilty, he was waiving various rights to which he would have been entitled during a trial and his right to appeal:
Judge Levitz then reinforced his commitment to be bound by the disposition agreed upon by the State and Yonga's counsel:
Judge Levitz also inquired whether Yonga had "any additions, corrections or modifications to those facts?" to which Yonga's counsel replied:
MR. FATEMI: Uh, I think Madame State has, uh, properly went over, uh, what hap—allegedly happened, just the fact that he never went in the house and in the statement he stated that he did not have sex.
Judge Levitz accepted Yonga's guilty plea:
THE COURT: Okay. All right. I've had occasion to speak with the Defendant and based on my opportunity I'm convinced that his plea is free, voluntary, knowing, informed and with factual basis, and accordingly I accept his guilty plea to third-degree sex offense.
During the sentencing hearing approximately one month later, at which Yonga's family allocuted regarding Yonga's mistake, Yonga expressed his remorse to the court:
Yes, sir. I'm very sorry. Really, really, really sorry. I made a mistake and I've learned a lot from it. I'm really, really, really—I'm so, I'm so deeply, really sorry. It bothers me every day but, um, it's a mistake I made. I'm going through it, you know, I'm very, very, very sorry.
Pursuant to the plea agreement, Judge Levitz sentenced Yonga to 364 days in the Baltimore County Detention Center, with all but six months suspended. Yonga also was required to register as a sex offender.
"recanted" her original statements given to police. Judge Sherrie Bailey of the Circuit Court for Baltimore County denied Yonga's petition on the merits, after a hearing.
Yonga appealed the denial, arguing that Judge Bailey, in finding Yonga did not sufficiently establish newly discovered evidence as required under Section 8–301, erred. The State countered that the Writ of Actual Innocence was not applicable to a person who had pled guilty and, in the alternative, that the Circuit Court's denial on the merits was correct.
Our intermediate appellate court affirmed in a reported opinion. Yonga v. State, 221 Md.App. 45, 108 A.3d 448 (2015). Judge Charles E. Moylan, writing for the Court of Special Appeals, explained the history of Section 8–301 and its affinity to the motion for a new trial under Rule 4–331, determining, primarily, that "a non-reversed guilty plea is invulnerable to a Writ of Actual Innocence." Id. at 77, 108 A.3d at 467. The Court of Special Appeals also determined that Judge Bailey did not clearly err in her credibility determinations, and, therefore, did not abuse her discretion in denying Yonga's petition, although it emphasized that, "First and foremost is our primary holding that the Writ of Actual Innocence does not apply to a guilty plea." Id. at 99, 108 A.3d at 480.
We granted Yonga's petition for a writ of certiorari, Yonga v. State, 442 Md. 515, 113 A.3d 624 (2015), which presented the following questions:
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