Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/274/220/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 20:00:16+00:00

Document:
A plea of guilty withdrawn by leave of court is not admissible against the defendant on the trial of the issue arising on a substituted plea of not guilty. P. 274 U. S. 223.
Certiorari (273 U.S. 685) to a judgment of the circuit court of appeals affirming a conviction and sentence in the district court in a prosecution for using the mails to defraud.
"The plea of guilty is introduced as evidence by the government. . . . If you find that Mr. Kercheval made that plea of guilty and that no promise was held out to him for the purpose of getting him to make that plea, or if you find that he was notified before he made the plea that nothing that was ever said to him with reference to it theretofore would be met, then it is evidence for you to consider in connection with the other evidence in the case. If . . . you find that he was deceived, that this was brought about by conversations that he had had with reference to it, and that he made that plea of guilty when as a matter of fact he was not guilty, then you will disregard that particular part of it and consider just the other testimony in the case."
The case is here on certiorari. 273 U.S. 685.
In support of the rulings below, the United States cites Commonwealth v. Ervine, 8 Dana (Ky.) 30, People v. Jacobs, 165 App.Div. 721, State v. Carta, 90 Conn. 79, People v. Boyd, 67 Cal.App. 292, 302, and People v. Steinmetz, 240 N.Y. 411. The arguments for admissibility to be gleaned from these cases are that the introduction of the withdrawn plea shows conduct inconsistent with the claim of innocence at the trial; that the plea is a statement of guilt having the same effect as if made out of court; that it is received on the principle which permits a confession of the accused in a lower court to be shown against him at his trial in the higher court; that it is not received as conclusive, and, like an extrajudicial confession, is not sufficient without other evidence of the corpus delicti. It is sometimes likened to prior testimony of the defendant making in favor of the prosecution.
he may be held bound. United States v. Bayaud, 23 F. 721. But, on timely application, the court will vacate a plea of guilty shown to have been unfairly obtained or given through ignorance, fear, or inadvertence. Such an application does not involve any question of guilt or innocence. Commonwealth v. Crapo, 212 Mass. 209. The court, in exercise of its discretion, will permit one accused to substitute a plea of not guilty and have a trial if for any reason the granting of the privilege seems fair and just. Swang v. State, 2 Coldw. (Tenn.) 212; State v. Maresca, 85 Conn. 509; State v. Nicholas, 46 Mont. 470, 472; State v. Stephens, 71 Mo. 535; People v. McCrory, 41 Cal. 458, 461; State v. Coston, 113 La. 717, 720; Bishop's New Criminal Procedure, § 747.
mark to say, as observed by the circuit court of appeals, that petitioner knew better than anyone whether or not he was guilty, and that, under the evidence, a plea of guilty was a reasonable thing. These suggestions might bear upon the weight of admissible evidence, but they have no relation to the admissibility of a withdrawn plea.
Courts frequently permit pleas of guilty to be withdrawn and pleas of not guilty to be substituted. We have cited all the decisions, state and federal, which have come to our attention that pass on the question here presented. The small number indicates that, in this country, it has not been customary to use withdrawn pleas as evidence of guilt. Counsel have cited no case, and we have found none, in which the question has been considered in English courts.

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 § 747