Opinion ID: 2269956
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Voluntariness of Defendant-Relator's Guilty Plea

Text: In this appeal defendant-relator contends, for the first time, that the circumstances surrounding his plea of guilty deprived him of his Constitutional right to due process because: (a) he pleaded guilty due to the District Attorney's promise that defendant-relator would be sentenced only for involuntary manslaughter and would not receive a sentence greater than one to three years; (b) he thought he was pleading guilty to an indictment which charged him with the crime of involuntary manslaughter; (c) he pleaded guilty unaware of the specific crime to which he was pleading; (d) he did not know the difference between the various degrees of the crime of murder with which he was charged; (e) his guilty plea was entered in ignorance of the nature of the crime with which he was charged and of the consequences of his guilty plea; and (f) that for each and all of these reasons his guilty plea was not freely and voluntarily made. We have examined the record and we agree with the lower Court that there is no merit in any of defendant-relator's contentions. At his original trial defendant-violator acknowledged that he understood he was pleading guilty to a charge of murder and was asking the trial Judge to determine his degree of guilt. Immediately before defendant-relator entered his plea of guilty and while he was represented by counsel, the Court below questioned him as follows: The Court: Mr. Booker, you understand that you are pleading guilty generally to this indictment charging you with murder and you are asking me to hear the testimony and fix the degree of guilt; you understand that, don't you? The Defendant: Yes, sir. Commonwealth ex rel. Crosby v. Rundle, 415 Pa. 81, 85, 202 A. 2d 299, holds that such questioning and explanation by the trial Judge is sufficient, [] where defendant's attorney has fully explained the charges against him. Furthermore, Crosby and Commonwealth ex rel. Foeman v. Maroney, 420 Pa. 486, 218 A. 2d 230, hold that where an accused pleads guilty to an indictment it is presumed that he knows what he is doing and the burden is on the defendant to prove otherwise. Defendant-relator has not met this burden. Furthermore, the attorney who represented the defendant-relator in the sentencing Court testified in the habeas corpus proceeding (1) that he had fully explained to the relator the crime of voluntary manslaughter and murder and the various degrees of murder and the consequences of a guilty plea, and (2) that there was no agreement with the District Attorney that the charge against defendant-relator would be reduced to involuntary manslaughter, or (3) that defendant-relator would not receive a sentence greater than one to three years. Moreover, the indictment to which defendant-relator pleaded guilty clearly and undoubtedly charged him only with the crimes of murder and voluntary manslaughter and did not charge him with involuntary manslaughter.