Opinion ID: 4572657
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plea Hearing in Hardeman County Circuit Court

Text: At the time of the Petitioner’s plea hearing in this case, he was in the custody of the Federal Board of Prisons and was transferred to the Hardeman County Circuit Court to take part in the proceeding.2 During the plea hearing, the trial court asked the Petitioner if he understood he did not have to plead guilty, if he was pleased with his counsel’s representation, and if he felt that his counsel had “properly investigated” his case. The Petitioner answered in the affirmative. Additionally, the trial court asked the Petitioner if 1 The record shows multiple spellings of Mr. Druan’s last name. We will use the spelling “Druan,” as that is what appears in the transcript from the Hardeman County Circuit Court. 2 During this plea hearing, the Petitioner also pled guilty to an unrelated state theft charge that occurred on June 5, 2014. That charge and the associated guilty plea are not at issue in this appeal. -2- he had any concerns or complaints about his representation or if he was being forced to plead guilty. The Petitioner answered in the negative. The court determined that the Petitioner “underst[oo]d the consequences both directly and indirectly for entering such pleas” and that the Petitioner “freely, voluntarily, and intelligently” made the decision to plead guilty. The trial court addressed the Petitioner’s counsel regarding the sentence: COURT: Count One is [seventeen] years at 100 percent, $500 fine and costs. Count Two is the same sentence, [seventeen] years at 100 percent, $500 fine, and costs. There is $2,000.00 restitution in Count Two. Count One and Count Two will be concurrent with each other. They will be concurrent with the federal charge; is that correct? COUNSEL: Yes. COURT: Yet it will be consecutive to [the state theft charge]. So[,] it’s concurrent with the Fed, consecutive to the State. COUNSEL: And we’re getting the docket number of the Feds. In fact, it might be good if we just filed a copy of that judgment from the Feds in his file here. The court accepted the guilty plea and sentenced the petitioner to the agreed upon seventeen-year term.