Title: Stonebreaker v. State
Citation: 476 N.E.2d 837
Docket Number: 984S347
State: Indiana
Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court
Date: April 25, 1985

476 N.E.2d 837 (1985)
Daniel R. STONEBREAKER, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
No. 984S347.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
April 25, 1985.
Susan K. Carpenter, Public Defender of Ind., Sheila K. Zwickey, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen. of Ind., Michael Gene Worden, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
GIVAN, Chief Justice.
This is an appeal from the denial of a post-conviction relief petition filed by appellant pro se.
*838 On December 22, 1977, appellant entered into a plea agreement to four charges of homicide. Under the agreement he received two life sentences, one for First Degree Murder and one for Second Degree Murder, and two indeterminate fifteen to twenty-five year sentences for Second Degree Murder.
On November 22, 1983, appellant filed his pro se Petition for Post-Conviction Relief. On March 13, 1984, a hearing was held on the petition and on May 9, 1984, after the filing of briefs by the parties, the court denied the post-conviction relief.
The full assignment of error on this appeal is whether the trial court's advisements were defective and thus rendered appellant's guilty pleas not knowing, intelligent and voluntary.
The facts leading to his appeal are as follows: Appellant was charged with four counts of First Degree Murder in Parke County, Indiana. The case was venued to Decatur County, where appellant entered into the above-mentioned plea bargain. At appellant's post-conviction hearing he claimed the trial court failed to advise him of the "statutory maximum and/or minimum sentence allowable by statute." He further claimed the trial court failed to advise him that by his plea he was admitting the facts alleged against him and of the possibility of an increased sentence due to his prior convictions. The State filed no answer to appellant's petition.
Following the post-conviction hearing the trial court made the following conclusions of law:
Appellant is correct in his observation that this Court has previously held that the applicable statute concerning pleas of guilty, Ind. Code § 35-4.1-1-3, must be strictly construed, citing Sexton v. State (1983), Ind., 455 N.E.2d 910 and Davis v. State (1983), Ind., 446 N.E.2d 1317. See also Helton v. State (1982), Ind. App., 443 N.E.2d 1201. Appellant is also correct when he states there is no exception even when a defendant pleads pursuant to a written plea agreement and is represented by competent counsel. Johnson v. State (1983), Ind., 457 N.E.2d 196; Helton, supra.
However, the case at bar is distinguishable from those cases. In the instant case the trial judge had no discretion in sentencing the appellant to life imprisonment for the First Degree Murder charge. At that time Indiana had no death penalty and the sole penalty for First Degree Murder was life imprisonment. Ind. Code § 35-13-4-1(a) (Burns 1975). So far as the Second Degree Murder convictions are concerned there were two penalties, life imprisonment and an indeterminate sentence of fifteen to twenty-five years. Ind. Code § 35-1-54-1 (Burns 1975). There was no possibility of the court sentencing appellant in any other manner for Second Degree Murder.
The very nature of the plea bargain agreement succinctly outlined for the appellant the possibilities involved in his plea of guilty. On one charge of Second Degree Murder he plea bargained for one life sentence, thus clearly demonstrating that a life sentence could be imposed for such a crime. On the two remaining charges of Second Degree Murder, he specifically agreed to accept an indeterminate sentence of fifteen to twenty-five years. Thus it becomes apparent that appellant was fully cognizant of the limits within which it was possible to sentence him under his plea.
Appellant further claims that he was not advised that his prior criminal record could be used to enhance his penalties. Although appellant did have a prior criminal record, and under some circumstances it might be used to enhance a penalty, such was not an element in the case at bar. Since the death penalty was not available in Indiana at that time, the life sentence for the First Degree Murder charge was of course the maximum sentence, not subject to enhancement. Likewise, the life sentence for the one Second Degree Murder charge was not subject to enhancement.
The two indeterminate sentences of fifteen to twenty-five years were not subject to variation on the part of the trial judge. The trial court had no power to diminish or enlarge an indeterminate sentence. Williams v. State (1954), 233 Ind. 327, 119 N.E.2d 547. The court could have given the alternate life sentence provided for Second Degree Murder; however, such would have been a violation of the plea bargain agreement on the one hand, and on the other hand appellant well knew that a life sentence was an alternative maximum for Second Degree Murder in view of the specific plea agreement to that effect.
We hold that upon consideration of the entire record and the trial court's advisements, the appellant knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily entered into a plea agreement. See Williams v. State (1984), Ind., 468 N.E.2d 1036.
The trial court is in all things affirmed.
All Justices concur.