Opinion ID: 1659158
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Factual Basis for the Guilty Plea

Text: The State may, without offending the United States Constitution, allow a criminal defendant a choice of pleading guilty even though the defendant protests his innocence of the crime charged. North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 38-39, 91 S.Ct. 160, 167-168, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970). In Missouri, a judgment on a plea of guilty may not be entered unless the trial judge determines there is a factual basis for the plea of guilty. Rule 24.02(e). If the plea of guilty is voluntarily and understandingly made and unequivocal as to the various factual elements necessary to constitute the offense, the plea itself forms a factual basis for the guilty plea. Milligan v. State, 772 S.W.2d 736, 738-39 (Mo.App. 1989). See also Robinson v. State, 491 S.W.2d 314, 315 (Mo.1973). Defendant directs our attention to that portion of his guilty plea where he stated he assumed Mrs. Hodges died of a heart attack while he and Tomas Ervin were attempting to prevent her escape. He argues that because he only admitted that she died of a heart attack rather than from suffocation by plastic as alleged in the indictment, the trial court could not find a factual basis for the plea of guilty. A defendant is legally accountable for a homicide if the direct and immediate cause of death resulted naturally and proximately from the defendant's unlawful act, even if the death is contributed to by other unforeseen causes. State v. Williams, 652 S.W.2d 102, 111-112 (Mo. banc 1983) (where the victim, in an effort to escape being shot or beaten to death, ran into a river and drowned, the evidence was sufficient to establish the cause of death being attributable to the defendant in a capital murder case); State v. Bolder, 635 S.W.2d 673, 680 (Mo. banc 1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1137, 103 S.Ct. 770, 74 L.Ed.2d 983 (1983) (evidence that defendant died of an infection resulting from a stab wound and not from the stabbing itself was sufficient to hold the defendant legally responsible for capital murder); State v. Klaus, 730 S.W.2d 571, 576 (Mo.App.1987) (evidence that death resulted from cardiac arrest seventeen days after the defendant intentionally struck the victim with her car, was held sufficient to support a second degree murder conviction); State v. Allen, 710 S.W.2d 912, 917 (Mo.App.1986) (evidence that the victim died of a heart attack two days after an assault supported a conviction of first degree murder); State v. Vaughn, 707 S.W.2d 422, 426 (Mo.App. 1986) (where facts show a fatal heart attack was brought on by an unlawful assault, there was a sufficient causal connection to support a second degree murder conviction). Accepting defendant's statement at the plea of guilty proceeding as true, the decision to kill the Hodgeses was formed when the mask was removed from the accomplice and when defendant's name was called out. The assault on Mrs. Hodges to prevent her from escaping occurred after that decision was made. The intermediate purpose of preventing her escape was part of an overall effort to carry out a plan of killing the potential witnesses to the robbery. The facts, as admitted by the defendant, were sufficient to show all elements of the crime of first degree murder. In addition, the prosecutor stated that he would produce evidence that Mrs. Hodges' body was discovered wrapped in plastic. A reasonable inference would be that if she was not dead before being wrapped in plastic, that act would cause death. Whether she died of suffocation or a heart attack brought on by the assault, her death was the natural and probable consequence of defendant's conduct. In the same point relied on, defendant argues that Judge Kinder failed to comply with § 600.051.2, which requires that when a defendant waives counsel, the trial judge must inquire before sentencing to determine if the defendant is in fact guilty. The trial judge is also required to inquire of the prosecutor to determine if the prosecutor knows of facts that would cast a reasonable doubt as to defendant's guilt or available defenses not known to the defendant or the court. The statutory purpose is to ensure that before an uncounseled defendant is sentenced, an independent determination is made as to the fact of the defendant's guilt and the strengths and weaknesses of the State's case. Here the defendant was fully represented by counsel when pretrial discovery was sought and obtained. Defendant had standby counsel at the plea of guilty. He was fully represented at all subsequent matters prior to and including sentencing. Insofar as determining the fact of defendant's guilt and discovery of the strengths and weaknesses in the State's case, defendant was fully represented. As previously noted, when a defendant has standby counsel, he has not fully waived his right to counsel. See State v. Burgin, 539 S.W.2d 652, 653-54 (Mo.App. 1976). The purposes of § 600.051.2 were accomplished by his attorney. Thus, the requirements of § 600.051.2 are inapplicable.