Opinion ID: 1647773
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Whether Burrough was denied due process of law when the trial court failed to consider the factual basis for the guilty plea.

Text: ¶ 14. Pursuant to Rule 8.04(A)(3) of the Uniform Circuit and County Court Rules, [b]efore the trial court may accept a plea of guilty, the court must determine that the plea is voluntarily and intelligently made and that there is a factual basis for the plea. (Emphasis added). The factual-basis component of the rule requires that, before it may accept the plea, the circuit court have before it, inter alia, substantial evidence that the accused did commit the legally defined offense to which he is offering the plea. Corley v. State, 585 So.2d 765, 767 (Miss. 1991). What facts must be shown depends on the crime and its assorted elements. Id. There are numerous ways by which the facts may be found, but what ultimately is required is there must be enough that the court may say with confidence the prosecution could prove the accused guilty of the crime charged. Id. (citing United States v. Broce, 488 U.S. 563, 570, 109 S.Ct. 757, 764, 102 L.Ed.2d 927, 936 (1989)). ¶ 15. At the guilty-plea hearing, the State informed the trial court that it had multiple witnesses whose testimonies would show that Burrough broke into a home and therein stole property. The State also told the trial court that it was prepared to offer testimony that Burrough was interviewed shortly after the alleged crime and admitted to taking the property and disposing of it. When asked by the trial court if he did, in fact, do these things which the State intended to prove, Burrough stated, Yes. ¶ 16. The record before the Court clearly reveals that the trial court accepted Burrough's voluntarily and intelligently-made plea based on a sufficient evidentiary suggestion of guilt to the charged crime of burglary. Burrough's argument that the trial court accepted his plea without a factual basis is without merit.