Title: State v. Dillon

State: kansas

Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court

Document:

242 Kan. 410 (1988)
748 P.2d 856
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
DONALD DILLON, Appellant.
No. 59,060

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed January 15, 1988.
Jessica Kunen, deputy appellate defender, argued the cause, and Benjamin C. Wood, chief appellate defender, was with her on the brief for appellant.
Darrell E. Miller, county attorney, argued the cause, and Robert T. Stephan, attorney general, was with him on the brief for appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
McFARLAND, J.:
Donald A. Dillon appeals his jury trial convictions of burglary (K.S.A. 21-3715), felony theft (K.S.A. 1986 Supp. 21-3701), and transporting an open container (K.S.A. 41-804). The Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion filed July 9, 1987, reversed the open container conviction and affirmed the other two convictions. The matter is before us on defendant's petition for review.
The only issues before us relate to the propriety of the district court's setting aside, sua sponte, the defendant's plea of nolo contendere entered on the burglary charge and requiring defendant to go to jury trial on all three charges. The facts of the offenses are of no import to the narrow issues before us. It is sufficient to say the charges arise from the May 10, 1985, burglary of and theft from the Kenneth Winslow farm home in Jewell County. As the result of a plea bargain agreement, the defendant entered a plea of nolo contendere to the burglary charge on September 5, 1985. In fulfillment of the plea bargain the two remaining charges were dismissed on motion of the *411 State. Sentencing was set for October 7, 1985, and a presentence investigation report was ordered.
In the presentence investigation report, defendant's version of the offense was given as follows:
When the case was called for sentencing, the following transpired:
On the State's motion, the felony theft and open container counts were reinstated. In a jury trial, the defendant was convicted of all three counts.
The trial court sentenced defendant to a term of one to five years for burglary, one to five years for felony theft, and six months for transporting an open container. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently but, upon defendant's application, the court placed him on probation for a period of three years.
On appeal defendant challenges whether the court had authority to set aside sua sponte the nolo contendere plea and require him to go to jury trial on all three counts, said action being taken as a result solely of his denial of guilt to the probation officer preparing the presentence report. The open container conviction was reversed on other grounds by the Court of Appeals and the propriety of that action is not before us. Inasmuch as the sentences for the burglary and felony theft were for the same term and run concurrently, and defendant was immediately placed on three years' probation, it is unlikely that the felony theft conviction could result in additional time being served. Nevertheless, some prejudice could arise to the defendant from having two felony convictions if he properly should have only one.
K.S.A. 1986 Supp. 22-3210 sets forth the procedures for accepting and withdrawing guilty and nolo contendere pleas:
Thus, before a plea of nolo contendere may be accepted, K.S.A. 1986 Supp. 22-3210 requires the trial court to inform the defendant of the consequences of the plea and the maximum penalty provided by law which may be imposed upon the acceptance of such a plea. The court must also address the defendant personally and determine that the plea is made voluntarily and with understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea. The court must also determine that there is a factual basis for the plea. This procedure basically follows Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, compliance with which is held to be mandatory upon the federal courts in McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 22 L. Ed. 2d 418, 89 S. Ct. 1166 (1969), and which procedure is fastened upon the state courts as a requirement of due process. Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274, 89 S. Ct. 1709 (1969); White v. State, 222 Kan. 709, 713, 568 P.2d 112 (1977). K.S.A. 22-3210 was enacted following the Boykin decision. See Widener v. State, 210 Kan. 234, 237-38, 499 P.2d 1123 (1972).
The entering and acceptance of the plea of nolo contendere were thoroughly and carefully done and in full compliance with the provisions of K.S.A. 1986 Supp. 22-3210. The statute provides (1) a plea of guilty or nolo contendere may be withdrawn for good cause shown and within the trial court's discretion before sentencing, and (2) the court may set aside the judgment of conviction after sentencing to correct manifest injustice.
K.S.A. 1986 Supp. 22-3210(d) does not speak of setting aside a plea but rather how a plea may be withdrawn. Webster's New World Dictionary 1633 (2nd College ed. 1980) contains the following definition:
Inasmuch as a defendant enters a plea of guilty or nolo contendere it would appear only a defendant making such a plea may seek to withdraw it under the statute.
*414 The Court of Appeals did not hold that K.S.A. 1986 Supp. 22-3210(d) authorized the district court's action of setting aside the plea herein. Rather, the Court of Appeals reasoned:
The effect of this reasoning would virtually abolish any reason to plead nolo contendere. If a defendant wishes to admit his guilt he can simply plead guilty. For a variety of reasons a defendant may wish to accept a plea bargain or not be on record as pleading guilty. In North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 27 L. Ed. 2d 162, 91 S. Ct. 160 (1970), defendant was indicted for first-degree murder, the penalty for which was death unless the jury recommended life imprisonment. Defendant claimed he was innocent. He agreed, however, to plead guilty to second-degree murder because he was otherwise faced with the threat of a death penalty if the case went to trial. There was substantial evidence that indicated Alford's guilt. He was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the guilty plea was involuntary because of the defendant's fear motivation. The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the Fourth Circuit, holding, inter alia, there was no constitutional error in accepting a guilty plea which contained a protestation of innocence when the defendant intelligently concluded that his interest required entry of a guilty plea and the record before the judge contained strong evidence of actual guilt. The Court said:
Fed. R. Crim. Proc. 11(e) allows a court, upon notification that a defendant's guilty plea is the result of a plea bargain with the government, to do one of three things: (1) accept it; (2) reject it; or (3) defer its decision until there is an opportunity to review the presentence report. United States v. Blackwell, 694 F.2d 1325, 1338 (D.C. Cir.1982). The latter choice may be applied only if the court has defendant's consent to review the presentence report. United States v. Sonderup, 639 F.2d 294, 295 (5th Cir.), cert. denied 452 U.S. 920 (1981); United States v. Harris, 635 F.2d 526, 528 (6th Cir.1980), cert. denied 451 U.S. 989 (1981).
Rule 11 aside, in United States v. Cruz, 709 F.2d 111 (1st Cir.1983), the court held that once a trial court unconditionally accepted a plea agreement, it had no authority to later reject that agreement sua sponte. In Cruz, the court was faced with the issue of whether a district court can unqualifiedly accept a bargained guilty plea and subsequently reject it on the basis of information in the defendant's presentence investigation report. The court said:
The same issue was faced in United States v. Holman, 728 F.2d 809 (6th Cir.), cert. denied 469 U.S. 983 (1984), where the court said:
....
In United States v. Blackwell, 694 F.2d 1325, 1338 (D.C. Cir.1982), the court said:
The court reasoned:
We conclude that, like the federal decisions thereon, the *417 court's power to set aside, sua sponte, a plea of nolo contendere should be limited to a situation where a fraud has been perpetrated on the court in the plea process. There is nothing in the case before us even approaching a fraud on the court in the making or acceptance of the plea. Inasmuch as the district court lacked authority to set aside the plea and order the defendant to trial on all counts, the conviction of felony theft must be reversed. The usual course of procedure would be to remand the case for resentencing on the burglary conviction on the plea. However, defendant's counsel has expressly requested that the jury trial conviction on the burglary charge and the sentence imposed thereon not be disturbed, thereby avoiding an exposure by the defendant to a new and, perhaps, greater sentence. The State has not objected to such a procedure and we see no reason why the request should not be granted.
By virtue of the result reached herein on the first issue, the defendant's second issue asserting double jeopardy need not be determined.
The judgments of the district court and Court of Appeals are affirmed in part and reversed in part.