Title: State v. Robinson
Citation: 233 Kan. 384, 662 P.2d 1275
Docket Number: 54,819
State: Kansas
Issuer: Kansas Supreme Court
Date: April 29, 1983

233 Kan. 384 (1983)
662 P.2d 1275
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee,
v.
DANNY LEE ROBINSON, Appellant.
No. 54,819

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed April 29, 1983.
Craig Altenhofen, of Harper &amp; Hornbaker, Chartered, of Junction City, argued the cause and was on the brief for the appellant.
Steven L. Opat, county attorney, and Robert T. Stephan, attorney general, were on the brief for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
HERD, J.:
This is a criminal action. Danny Lee Robinson entered pleas of guilty to aggravated robbery (K.S.A. 21-3427) and corruptly influencing a witness (K.S.A. 21-3806). Prior to sentencing Robinson sought to withdraw his pleas of guilty. The trial court denied his motion. This appeal followed.
Danny Robinson and an accomplice robbed a Junction City dope house to get money for Danny to pay off a debt. They took both drugs and money. The next day they were picked up by the police. Robinson offered the robbery victims drugs and money if they would not press charges.
Robinson was subsequently charged with five counts of aggravated robbery (K.S.A. 21-3427), one count of attempted aggravated robbery (K.S.A. 21-3301), one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery (K.S.A. 21-3302), and one count of corruptly influencing a witness (K.S.A. 21-3806).
Pursuant to plea negotiations Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated robbery and one count of corruptly influencing a witness. The State agreed to (1) dismiss all remaining counts; (2) recommend the court impose concurrent sentences; and (3) not seek enhancement of the sentence under the habitual criminal act, K.S.A. 1982 Supp. 21-4504.
The trial court held a hearing on the plea agreement at which *385 time Robinson was exhaustively questioned regarding his understanding of the agreement and what would happen pursuant to it. He also signed a statement acknowledging that by entering into the plea agreement he was waiving his right to a jury trial. The trial court accepted Robinson's guilty pleas.
A presentence report was ordered and the matter was returned to the trial court for sentencing. At that time Robinson indicated he wished to change his guilty pleas. The trial court set the matter for hearing. At the hearing Robinson testified he felt he was "tricked" into the plea agreement and only entered into it because of the prosecutor's threat to invoke the habitual criminal act. Nevertheless, the trial court refused to allow withdrawal of the guilty pleas.
The sole issue on appeal is whether the habitual criminal act, K.S.A. 1982 Supp. 21-4504, is rendered unconstitutional because its use by the prosecutor is optional.
Appellant argues the trial court erred in not allowing him to withdraw his guilty pleas, claiming he pled guilty only because the prosecution threatened him with imposition of the habitual criminal act, K.S.A. 1982 Supp. 21-4504, if he did not. That statute provides, in pertinent part:
Appellant argues the prosecution's threat to impose the habitual criminal act had a chilling effect on his assertion of his right to a jury trial. Moreover, he claims, the only purpose of making the imposition of the act dependent upon a motion of the prosecutor is to encourage guilty pleas and discourage the exercise of constitutional rights. Appellant contends this is "patently unconstitutional."
It should be noted the constitutionality of the habitual criminal act has been challenged many times and each time this court has rejected the attack. See, e.g., State v. Sully, 219 Kan. 222, 547 P.2d 344 (1976) (due process and equal protection); Churchill v. State, 216 Kan. 399, 532 P.2d 1070 (1975); Clinton v. State, 210 Kan. 327, 502 P.2d 852 (1972) (cruel and unusual punishment); Fairbanks v. State, 196 Kan. 650, 413 P.2d 985 (1966) (double jeopardy), See generally State v. Levier, 226 Kan. 461, 467-68, *386 601 P.2d 1116 (1979). Appellant's contention here is somewhat different. He argues the statute is unconstitutional because it acts to discourage assertion of a constitutional right.
The United States Supreme Court has dealt with this issue in a series of cases. United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 20 L. Ed. 2d 138, 88 S. Ct. 1209 (1968), involved the federal kidnaping act, 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a), which provided for punishment by death "if the verdict of the jury shall so recommend." Under the statute there was no procedure for imposing the death sentence upon a defendant who waived jury trial or who pleaded guilty. Thus a defendant who asserted his right to jury trial did so at the risk of death. The court struck this portion of the statute, holding:
Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 25 L. Ed. 2d 747, 90 S. Ct. 1463 (1970), also involved the federal kidnaping act. The defendant here was faced with the same choice as the defendant in Jackson, and after he learned a codefendant had confessed and would be available to testify against him at a jury trial, pled guilty. The court in Brady, however, held Jackson did not require invalidation of every guilty plea entered under section 1201(a) of the federal kidnaping act. Instead, the court said, the individual circumstances of the case should be examined to determine whether the waiver of the right to jury trial was knowing and intelligent. In other words, the statute might be unconstitutional but the guilty plea could still be allowed. With regard to the fact the defendant's guilty plea might have been based in part on the possibility of a heavier sentence after jury trial, the court stated:
Thus, a guilty plea, "motivated by the defendant's desire to accept the certainty or probability of a lesser penalty rather than face a wider range of possibilities extending from acquittal to conviction and a higher penalty authorized by law for the crime charged," is not necessarily compelled and invalid under the Fifth Amendment. 397 U.S.  at 751.
In Chaffin v. Stynchcombe, 412 U.S. 17, 36 L. Ed. 2d 714, 93 S. Ct. 1977 (1973), the petitioner was convicted of robbery and sentenced by the jury. He was later granted a new trial after which the jury imposed a harsher sentence. He argued the possibility of a heavier sentence on reconviction placed an impermissible chilling effect on his right to demand a jury trial on retrial. The court recognized, citing Jackson, "if the only objective of a state practice is to discourage the assertion of constitutional rights it is `patently unconstitutional.'" 412 U.S.  at 33, n. 20. Still, the court stated, Jackson did not hold the Constitution "forbids every government-imposed choice in the criminal process that has the effect of discouraging the exercise of constitutional rights." 412 U.S.  at 30. In light of the fact the criminal process is full of situations requiring the making of difficult judgments the real question is whether "compelling the election impairs to an appreciable extent any of the policies behind the rights involved." 412 U.S.  at 32.
Finally, in Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 54 L. Ed. 2d 604, 98 S. Ct. 663, reh. denied 435 U.S. 918 (1978), the defendant was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of uttering a forged instrument. During plea negotiations the prosecutor threatened if the defendant did not plead guilty he would return to the grand jury and seek an indictment under the Kentucky habitual criminal act, then Ky. Rev. Stat. § 431.190 (1973) (repealed 1975), which would subject the defendant to a harsher sentence. The defendant pled not guilty and was subsequently charged and convicted under the habitual criminal act. The defendant challenged the prosecutor's actions as a violation of due process. The Supreme Court, however, upheld the conviction. Much of the *388 court's reasoning was based on the nature of the plea bargaining process:
....
See also Morrow v. State, 219 Kan. 442, 445-46, 548 P.2d 727 (1976).
The foregoing cases readily answer appellant's claim. The mere fact the Kansas habitual criminal act gives the prosecutor authority to move the trial court to invoke its provisions does not make it "patently unconstitutional." Indeed, the statute itself has no chilling effect whatsoever on the defendant's assertion of his constitutional rights. It is only when the prosecutor uses his discretion and threatens to invoke the act that some chilling effect may occur. As the Supreme Court has stated, however, this is merely part of the plea bargaining process.
*389 Further, the prosecutor's discretion regarding whether or not to ask the court to invoke the provisions of the act does not present a problem. The prosecutor's discretion under the act has previously been upheld in the face of constitutional attack. See State v. Sully, 219 Kan. at 230; State v. Collins, 215 Kan. 789, 528 P.2d 1221 (1974). In fact, this is essentially the same type of discretion the prosecutor employs in deciding whether or not to prosecute and what charges to file. Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S.  at 364.
Since the act itself does not work a violation of a defendant's constitutional rights this appeal must fail unless appellant can show that under the circumstances of this case his initial guilty pleas were compelled. An examination of the transcript clearly shows this was not the case. The trial court took special care to insure Mr. Robinson's pleas were made knowingly and intelligently. There is no ground for reversal.
The judgment is affirmed.