Case Name: PEOPLE v. JONES
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1971-07-07
Citations: 385 Mich. 288
Docket Number: No. 6; Docket No. 52,876
Parties: PEOPLE v. JONES
Judges: Black, Adams, T. G. Kavanagh, Swainson and Williams, JJ., concurred with T. M. Kavanagh, C. J.
Reporter: Michigan Reports
Volume: 385
Pages: 288–291

Head Matter:
PEOPLE v. JONES
Opinion op the Court
1. Criminal Law — Appeal and Error — Confession of Error — Plea of Guilty — Confession—Polygraph Examinations — Evidentiary Hearing.
Cause remanded to trial court for the holding of an evidentiary hearing where defendant alleged he entered an uncounseled plea of guilty because he believed a coerced confession, extended interrogations and polygraph examinations he had taken made it an impossible case to defend and the Attorney General, who is the official representative of the people of the state in all criminal cases, at oral argument, formally confessed that the trial court erred in refusing to grant an evidentiary hearing to determine the fact questions (MCLA. §14.28).
Concurring Opinion
T. E. Brennan, J.
2. Criminal Law — New Trial — Affidavits—Plea of Guilty — Evidentiary Hearing.
An evidentiary hearing upon the issues framed must he held whenever, on motion for new trial, the defendant presents an affidavit alleging facts, which if true, would impugn the voluntariness of his plea, and entitle him to a new trial, and counter-affidavits are presented, which if true, would negate involuntariness of the plea.
3. Criminal Law — New Trial — Plea of Guilty.
Defendant, who seelcs a new trial on the ground that his prior plea of guilty was not voluntary, will he given a chance to prove, on remand, that he lied to the circuit judge when he made statements, which he now denies were true, that no one promised him anything to get him to plead guilty, that no one threatened him in any way to get him to plead guilty, and that he pled guilty freely and voluntarily because he committed the act charged.
Reference for Points in Headnotes
[1-3] 29 Am Jur 2d, Evidence § 555 et seq.
Appeal from Court of Appeals, Division 1, Levin, P. J., and J. H. Gillis and Y. J. Brennan, JJ., order denying application for leave to appeal from Tuscola, James P. Churchill, J.
Submitted June 9, 1971.
(No. 6
June Term 1971,
Docket No. 52,876.)
Decided July 7, 1971.
Robert D. Jones was convicted of armed robbery. Defendant’s application for delayed appeal to the Court of Appeals denied. Defendant appeals.
Remanded for evidentiary hearing.
Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Robert A. Derengoski, Solicitor General, and Stewart H. Freeman, Assistant Attorney General, for the people.
Maurice C. Ransford, for defendant on appeal.

Opinion:
T. M. Kavanagh, C. J.
Defendant alleges he entered an uncounseled plea of guilty because he believed the coerced confession, the extended interrogations and the polygraph examinations he had taken made it an impossible case to defend.
The Attorney General, the official representative of the plaintiff in all criminal cases , that is, the people of the State of Michigan, has in open court, at oral argument, formally confessed that the trial court erred in refusing to grant an evidentiary hearing to determine the fact questions; therefore It is ordered, that the above entitled cause be remanded to the trial court for the holding of an evidentiary hearing. See Pennsylvania v. Claudy (1956), 350 US 116 (76 S Ct 223, 100 L Ed 126); McMann v. Richardson (1970), 397 US 759 (90 S Ct 1441, 25 L Ed 2d 763).
Black, Adams, T. G. Kavanagh, Swainson and Williams, JJ., concurred with T. M. Kavanagh, C. J.
MCLA § 14.28 (Stat Ann 1969 Rev § 3.181). See People v. Foster (1966), 377 Mich 233.