Title: Scharbrough v. State
Citation: 232 N.E.2d 592, 249 Ind. 316
Docket Number: 30,882
State: Indiana
Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court
Date: January 4, 1968

249 Ind. 316 (1968)
232 N.E.2d 592
SCHARBROUGH
v.
STATE OF INDIANA.
No. 30,882.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
Filed January 4, 1968.
*317 George P. Dickmann, and Dickmann &amp; Dickmann, of Greenfield, for appellant.
John J. Dillon, Attorney General, and Charles J. Deiter, Deputy Attorney General, for appellee.
ARTERBURN, J.
Appellant was tried jointly with Jerry Wayne Garrison before a jury. Count One charged the appellant with first degree murder and Count Two with murder in the perpetration of a robbery. The appellant was found guilty of murder in the second degree and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The sole assignment of errors is the overruling of the motion for a new trial and specifically the contention therein that the appellant was misled in failing to make a proper defense by reason of the promises and representations of the State of Indiana through the prosecuting attorney. This specification was supported by an affidavit made a part of the motion for a new trial, which read as follows:
The appellant takes the position that the State, by and through its prosecuting attorney pursuant to an agreement made, had the duty to inform the court of such arrangement when the appellant, at the conclusion of the jury trial, asked leave to withdraw his plea of not guilty and plead guilty to *322 manslaughter. The prosecuting attorney failed to do this and failed to ask the court to dismiss the murder charge. The State, on the other hand, contends that the court alone has the discretion and judgment to permit the dismissal of a pending prosecution, and cites the following statute:
It will be noted, however, that the prosecuting attorney has a duty in the first place to make the motion to dismiss.
There is a strange silence on the part of the prosecuting attorney in this case with reference to the affidavit supporting the motion for a new trial made by a reputable attorney, who was the appellant's attorney in the cause, squarely and unequivocally alleging the agreement and understanding. The agreement and understanding set forth in the supporting affidavit are not denied or avoided by any counter-affidavit whatsoever. Rule 1-15 of this Court provides specifically that affidavits filed in support of a motion for a new trial are to be considered as evidence "without the introduction thereof on the hearing on the motion and shall be part of the record without a bill of exceptions." This rule also provides that an opposing party shall have twenty days within which "to file counter-affidavits" and a provision is made for filing reply affidavits. This Court is at a loss to understand why no counter-affidavit was filed as to what is set out in the supporting affidavit to the motion for a new trial, it if was not the truth. We are bound under our rules to accept the affidavit as the truth, since it is uncontradicted. The only question here is whether or not, accepting the facts alleged therein as the truth, was the appellant misled thereby and as *323 a result did he fail to receive a fair trial? The affidavit states that the appellant's attorney and the appellant, relying upon such promise and representations by the State, failed to make an active defense by cross-examination and calling material witnesses on behalf of appellant during the trial. This, in itself being undenied, results in an unfair trial.
In Mahoney v. State (1925), 197 Ind. 335, 149 N.E. 444 an affidavit was filed after the appellant was sentenced, asking to withdraw the plea of guilty, which affidavit stated that the prosecuting attorney promised to recommend a suspended sentence and the appellant was misled into pleading guilty. In that case, we point out, a counter-affidavit by the prosecuting attorney was filed by the State, denying the material allegations, and the court refused to set aside the sentence and judgment entered.
The State relies upon the following statement by the court in the above case in 197 Ind. at p. 342:
It is, of course, the law as stated above that a trial court does not have to accept the recommendation of the prosecuting attorney to withdraw a plea or suspended sentence, but the trial court is entitled to hear the recommendations as part of the facts upon which it may exercise its discretion. This is particularly true where the prosecuting attorney has consulted with the defendant or his attorneys with reference to such matters. In the case cited above the court had before it all the facts with reference to the alleged representation to the court by reason of the affidavits and counter-affidavits filed, and the court found the defendant was not misled.
*324 In the case before us the facts are undisputed. The prosecuting attorney did have a duty to make a recommendation to the trial court. Although the trial court was not obligated to follow such recommendation, it was entitled to know the facts so that it could properly use its discretion.
Under the undisputed facts, it was the duty of the prosecuting attorney to ask to dismiss the greater charge of murder standing against the appellant.
In State v. Morrison (1905), 165 Ind. 461, 75 N.E. 968, over the objection of the prosecuting attorney, the court accepted a plea of guilty to manslaughter in a case where the defendant was charged with murder in the first degree. This Court held that the trial court committed error in thus disposing of a charge of murder in the first degree without the prosecuting attorney's request that it be dismissed. We thus find that the prosecuting attorney has within his power to maintain and prosecute a charge against a defendant, even over the attempt of the trial court on its own motion to dismiss such an offense. Such being the state of the law, the prosecuting attorney had a duty here which he failed to perform.
For the reasons stated, the evidence and record before us is undisputed that the appellant did not receive a fair trial and was misled. If counter-affidavits in good faith could have been filed and had been filed in this case, it would have left some discretion for the trial court, and the results herein might have been different. State v. Ashby (1964), 43 N.J. 273, 204 A.2d 1; See: Enforceability of Nolle Prosequi Agreement between Accused and Prosecutor, John T. Mulvihill (1964), 39 Notre Dame Lawyer 727; Law Enforcement, Thurman W. Arnold (1932), 42 Yale Law Journal 1.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed, with directions to grant the appellant a new trial.
Lewis, C.J. and Mote, Hunter and Jackson, JJ., concur.
NOTE.  Reported in 232 N.E.2d 592.