Case Name: Donald REED, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee
Court: Mississippi Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1999-05-18
Citations: 743 So. 2d 1042
Docket Number: No. 97-CP-01185-COA
Parties: Donald REED, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.
Judges: BEFORE McMILLIN, C.J., KING, P.J., AND DIAZ, J.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 743
Pages: 1042–1050

Head Matter:
Donald REED, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.
No. 97-CP-01185-COA.
Court of Appeals of Mississippi.
May 18, 1999.
Inmate Legal Assistant, Attorney for Appellant.
Office of the Attorney General by Jean Smith Vaughan, Attorney for Appellee.
BEFORE McMILLIN, C.J., KING, P.J., AND DIAZ, J.

Opinion:
McMILLIN, C.J.,
for the Court:
¶ 1. This case comes before the Court as an appeal from the circuit court's denial of post-conviction relief on application of inmate Donald Reed, Jr. Reed suggested three grounds in his motion that warranted setting aside his sentence. He now raises as error before this Court the circuit court's decision to deny him any relief. Upon a review of the record, we conclude that one of Reed's issues has merit and that this case must be remanded for further appropriate proceedings.
I.
Facts
¶ 2. Reed and a companion were indicted for two counts of murder. Reed, who was fourteen years of age at the time, entered a guilty plea to both counts. A judgment accepting the pleas and sentencing him to life imprisonment on both counts, the sentences to run concurrently, was entered on October 11, 1995. Within three years of that date, and specifically on December 9, 1996, Reed filed a motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to authority of the Mississippi Post-Conviction Relief Act. In his motion, Reed made the following claims as showing his right to relief:
(1) Reed received ineffective assistance of counsel because his attorney misadvised him on matters related to potential sentencing.
(2) The trial court failed to determine that there was a factual basis for his plea or that he had voluntarily and intelligently entered a guilty plea.
(3) The trial court failed to consider alternative sentencing options available for sentencing juvenile defendants being tried as adults.
¶ 3. The trial court, without conducting a hearing on the motion or requiring a response from the State, determined that Reed had not demonstrated his right to relief under the statute. In the findings supporting the decision to deny Reed any post-conviction relief, the trial court did not address two of the issues raised by Reed. Instead, the court confined itself to Reed's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel. The court then concluded that Reed's motion did "not state a cause of action upon which relief can be granted" based on the court's review of the plea acceptance hearing. We conclude, based upon our review of the record, that the trial court was manifestly in error in his finding that Reed's motion had failed to state a claim for relief as to his second claim. It was, therefore, error to deny the motion without further proceedings required under the statute. Based on that conclusion, we have no alternative under the law except to reverse and remand for further proceedings.
¶ 4. Because of the trial court's failure to even acknowledge the existence of the issue which we conclude to have some measure of merit, we feel it necessary to make some comment on the issue.
II.
The Matter of Reed's Guilty Plea
¶ 5. There is a large body of law for the proposition that substantially more is required to permit an indicted individual to waive his right to trial and enter a plea of guilty than the mere fact that the defendant desires to do so. No such proposed guilty plea can be accepted by the trial court until the trial court, by its own inquiry, is satisfied in two principal areas. First, the court must be reasonably assured that the crime charged has, in fact, been committed and that the defendant has been implicated in its commission. Corley v. State, 585 So.2d 765, 767 (Miss.1991). Secondly, the court must also be satisfied that the defendant understands and appreciates that he is waiving a substantial number of constitutional safeguards designed to prevent his unjust punishment if he enters a voluntary plea of guilty to the criminal charge. Horton v. State, 584 So.2d 764, 767 (Miss.1991).
¶ 6. Reed, in this case, complains principally that he did not fully understand the essential elements necessary to convict him of murder. Specifically, he claims that he had an incomplete or imperfect understanding that proof of premeditation or malice aforethought was an essential element of the State's case and that, if the State did not prove such premeditation beyond a reasonable doubt, he could not be convicted of murder. He faults the trial court for its failure to inform him of the essential elements of the crime of murder and also for the court's failure to conduct its own inquiry into the facts of the case to assure the court either that (a) Reed understood the issue of premeditation and was prepared to confess to facts that would show that he acted with premeditation or (b) the State was in possession of evidence admissible at trial that could, with reasonable certainty, be said to make a showing of premeditation strong enough to withstand a sufficiency challenge.
¶ 7. Such a claim requires this Court to review carefully the transcript of the proceeding at which Reed entered his guilty plea. Our review indicates that, during the colloquy at the hearing to accept Reed's plea, there was no discussion of the underlying facts that led to Reed's indictment. Reed was not asked to recite those acts he admitted committing that would support a murder charge. Nor was the State required to make a statement as to what evidence it possessed that, if believed by the fact-finder, would support a guilty verdict to murder.
¶ 8. The sole inquiry into the facts supporting the charge of double murder consisted of the following brief exchange. The trial court inquired, "You have entered a plea of guilty to Count I for the murder of Girardo Perez. Are you guilty of that crime?" Reed replied, "Yes, sir." An almost identical exchange then followed regarding the death of Jose Rodriguez. There was no inquiry into the facts surrounding the death of these two individuals nor was there any discussion of the essential elements of the crime of murder. There is nothing in the record that would indicate that Reed, a fourteen year old, was schooled in the criminal law and, therefore, possessed an independent understanding of the constituent elements of the crime of murder.
¶ 9. In the case of Henderson v. Morgan, the United States Supreme Court reversed a judgment based on a guilty plea to murder because the record would not support a finding that the defendant possessed the necessary intent. Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 637, 647, 96 S.Ct. 2253, 49 L.Ed.2d 108 (1976). The Supreme Court found that there was no stipulation of the fact of intent, there was no indication that the defendant was told that a guilty plea would be an admission of intent, nor was there any inquiry into facts or statements by which the defendant's intent could be demonstrated. The Court said, "[i]n these circumstances it is impossible to conclude that his plea to the unexplained charge of second-degree murder was voluntary." Id. at 646, 96 S.Ct. 2253. The Mississippi Supreme Court has indicated that Henderson v. Morgan makes it "essential that an accused have knowledge of the critical elements of the charge against him.... " Gilliard v. State, 462 So.2d 710, 712 (Miss.1985). Even though the supreme court ultimately affirmed the trial court's decision to accept Gilliard's guilty plea, the facts of that case stand in sharp contrast to the case now before us. In the Gilliard decision, the supreme court quoted at some length from the trial court's inquiry as to Gilliard's understanding of the various elements of the crime of murder, including specifically the element of malice aforethought. Id.
¶ 10. In the case of Gaskin v. State, our supreme court explained the importance of this aspect of accepting a guilty plea with the following observation:
Knowledge of the elements [of the crime] is obviously a prerequisite to an' intelligent assessment by the defendant of: 1) whether he has in fact done anything wrong under the law, and 2) the likelihood that he stands to be convicted if he exercises his right to a jury trial.
Gaskin v. State, 618 So.2d 103, 107 (Miss.1993).
¶ 11. Additionally, we observe that Uniform Circuit and County Court Rule 8.04.-A.3. requires that, as a part of accepting a guilty plea, the trial court "must determine that the plea is voluntarily and intelligently made and that there is a factual basis for the plea. " URCCC 8.04.A.3. (emphasis added).
¶ 12. Therefore, there is, on the face of this case, a legitimate issue as to whether the trial court could have reasonably been assured of the propriety of a guilty plea based on either of two related issues, i.e., (a) that the State had probative evidence that would support a murder conviction, and (b) that the defendant understood the various elements of the crime essential to support a conviction and was prepared to concede that evidence existed to prove these elements.
¶ 13. The trial court, in dismissing the post-conviction relief motion, appears to have been acting under authority of Section 99-39-11, which permits such action "[i]f it plainly appears from the face of the motion, any annexed exhibits and the prior proceedings in the case that the movant is not entitled to any relief...." Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-11(2) (Rev.1994).
¶ 14. We conclude, .for reasons we have stated, that the trial court erred when it dismissed Reed's motion in this manner, since it appears to this Court, judging solely from the motion and the record of the prior proceedings, that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that Reed may be entitled to relief under the statute. We do not foreclose the possibility that, after a fuller inquiry, Reed's plea may be found to have been given voluntarily after being fully informed of the consequences since, as the supreme court observed in Gaskin v. State:
[t]he failure of the court to advise [the defendant] of the elements of the charges to which he pled is harmless error if it can be shown that prior to the court's acceptance of [the defendant's] plea, he had already been advised through other sources of the critical ele- merits of the offenses he was charged with.
Gaskin, 618 So.2d at 107.
¶ 15. For the reasons stated, we reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with the statutory mandate of Section 99-39-11(3) and those ensuing sections of the PosWConviction Relief Act that bear on the proper handling of Reed's motion.
III.
Reed's Remaining Issues
¶ 16. We cannot discern any error in the trial court's ruling that Reed's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel was without merit on its face. Therefore, except to the extent that the consultation of Reed's attorney in advising him as to the intricacies of pleading guilty to double murder may bear on the issue of the voluntary and informed nature of Reed's plea, we are of the opinion that no further inquiry into the adequacy of Reed's representation is appropriate.
¶ 17. We also observe that Reed's other issue, left unaddressed in the trial court's dismissal order, dealt with the trial court's failure to consider alternative sentencing under the provisions of the Mississippi Youth Court Act in view of Reed's age. Specifically, Reed argues that Section 43-21-159(3) required the trial court, despite having original jurisdiction of Reed's case under the Youth Court Act, to consider alternate sentencing as provided in that subsection. Reed claims that the trial court's statement that it had no alternative but to sentence Reed to life in prison was erroneous on its face and in violation of the provisions of Erwin v. State, which required the trial court to state in the record the reasons for "utilizing or not utilizing the alternatives afforded" under Section 43-21-159(3). Erwin v. State, 557 So.2d 799, 803 (Miss.1990).
¶ 18. Reed's argument on this issue is without merit since the Legislature amended Section 43-21-159(3) in 1994 to remove the alternative sentencing authority discussed in the Erwin case. At the time of Reed's alleged offense and his subsequent sentencing, both occurring in 1995, the statute, which formerly provided for the possibility of county jail time or probation for juvenile offenders convicted in circuit court, had been amended to state that "[i]f . the youth is convicted of a crime by any circuit court, the trial judge shall sentence the youth as though such youth was an adult." Miss.Code Ann. § 43-21-159(4) (Supp.1995) as amended Miss.Code Ann. § 43-21-159(4) (Supp.1998).
¶ 19. Our remand is, therefore, limited to further inquiry as to Reed's contention that his plea was not an informed one due to his lack of understanding of the elements of the crime of murder and the trial court's failure to satisfy itself that facts existed to establish that a double murder had, in fact, been committed and that Reed was implicated in the commission of those crimes.
¶ 20. THE JUDGMENT OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF SCOTT COUNTY DENYING THE APPELLANT'S MOTION FOR POST-CONVICTION RELIEF IS REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION. COSTS OF THIS APPEAL ARE ASSESSED TO SCOTT COUNTY.
KING AND SOUTHWICK, P. JJ., COLEMAN, DIAZ, AND IRVING, JJ., CONCUR.
LEE, J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION JOINED BY BRIDGES, PAYNE, AND THOMAS, JJ.