Title: Simmons v. State
Citation: 336 N.E.2d 644
Docket Number: 475S81
State: Indiana
Issuer: Indiana Supreme Court
Date: November 5, 1975

336 N.E.2d 644 (1975)
Phillip Lee SIMMONS, Appellant (Defendant below),
v.
STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff below).
No. 475S81.

Supreme Court of Indiana.
November 5, 1975.
Harriette Bailey Conn, Public Defender, Darrell F. Ellis, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Wesley T. Wilson, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.
HUNTER, Justice.
This is an appeal from the denial of post-conviction relief. Appellant was indicted in 1963, for first degree murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of Edna Frisbie. In the spring of 1964, appellant pleaded guilty to second degree murder. In 1971, appellant filed a petition for post-conviction relief, asserting that his guilty plea was involuntary because it was the product of an illegally obtained confession. On November 16, 1971, this petition was summarily denied (the state's brief incorrectly states that the appellant appeals from this latter action). No timely motion to correct errors was filed, and appellant petitioned for permission to file a belated motion to correct errors. When permission was denied, appellant appealed that decision. In Simmons v. State (1974), Ind., 310 N.E.2d 872, this Court unanimously remanded the case to the trial court with instructions that appellant be allowed to file his belated motion to correct errors. The motion was filed and an evidentiary hearing was held to determine whether appellant's plea of guilty was voluntarily and intelligently given. At the conclusion of this hearing, appellant's petition for post-conviction relief was denied. Appellant's *645 motion to correct errors was denied on January 3, 1975, and this appeal follows.
Appellant contends that his confession was the result of police threats that if he did not make a written statement he "would get the chair." Here, as in Lockhart v. State (1971), 257 Ind. 349, 351, 274 N.E.2d 523, 525, "There was no confession of the appellant introduced in evidence other than his in court plea of guilty." The factors which motivated the appellant to plead guilty are not material, so long as we can ascertain from the record that his guilty plea was entered freely, voluntarily and knowingly. Brady v. U.S. (1970), 397 U.S. 742, 90 S. Ct. 1463, 25 L. Ed. 2d 747; Boykin v. Alabama (1969), 395 U.S. 238, 89 S. Ct. 1709, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274.
The transcript of the arraignment and the guilty plea proceeding, introduced in evidence at the post-conviction relief proceeding, clearly shows a record meeting all the requirements of Boykin, supra, remarkable only in that the guilty plea here was tendered five years prior to the Boykin decision.
Here is the transcript:
At the evidentiary hearing, appellant testified that the police picked him up at his home about 10:45 p.m.; that he admitted the killing during his ride to the police station; that he arrived at the station about 11:05 p.m. or 11:10 p.m.; that he was questioned until about 12:00 a.m. or 12:30 a.m. by two sets of detectives; that he was threatened with the chair if he would not make a statement; that he requested an attorney on several occasions, but that his request was denied; that on the day the confession was given he had consumed seven or eight beers and was feeling good; that he pleaded guilty because his attorneys told him it would be impossible to withdraw his confession and that he would go to the chair if he went to court; and that one of his attorneys promised him that if he pleaded guilty to second degree murder the attorney would, after two years, ask the governor to commute the life sentence-one to a term of two-to-twenty-one years.
In addition to the transcript of the guilty plea proceeding set out above, the state introduced the testimony of the arresting officers, who testified that appellant was not intoxicated; that no questioning took place and appellant made no admission during the ride to the station; that no threats or promises were made to the appellant prior to his confession; and that appellant did not request an attorney.
Appellant's allegation that one of his attorneys promised to see about commuting his life sentence stands uncontradicted  the attorney to whom the statement was attributed has been admitted to the Bar of the Eternal. On the other hand, appellant presented no evidence that such an attempt was not made. The representation was not made by the prosecution, or by the court, but by a defense attorney, who was, of course, an officer of the court. Such an inducement, however, is not, on the basis of this record, sufficient to find that appellant's plea was not voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently entered.
In McMann v. Richardson (1970), 397 U.S. 759, 768, 90 S. Ct. 1441, 1447, 25 L. Ed. 2d 763, 772, the Supreme Court stated: "For the defendant who considers his confession involuntary and hence unusable against him at trial, tendering a plea of guilty would seem a most improbable alternative." The facts show that when appellant tendered his plea, he was represented by three distinguished defense attorneys, had been advised of the charge against him, knew the penalty for first and second degree murder, knew that he could insist upon a trial by jury, compulsory process, and could not be required to testify against himself. There is nothing in this record to suggest that appellant's guilty plea was anything less than a carefully considered choice. It was appellant's burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that his plea was not freely, voluntarily and knowingly given. The trial court in denying appellant's petition for post-conviction relief held that appellant had not adduced such proof. In that determination we concur, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
GIVAN, C.J., and ARTERBURN, DeBRULER and PRENTICE, JJ., concur.