Opinion ID: 340428
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: seiller's understanding of nature of charges

Text: 33 Rule 11 requires to the extent here relevant that, before a plea of guilty may be accepted, the court must establish by personally questioning the defendant that he understands the nature of the charge. McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 464-67 (1969). 34 Seiller contends that the extent of Judge Cooper's compliance with this requirement was that the three conspiracy counts were read to him and that he was asked how he pleaded to each. He argues that we held in Irizarry v. United States, 508 F.2d 960 (2 Cir. 1975), that reading the indictment to a defendant does not satisfy McCarthy; that Irizarry requires that the court establish that a defendant understands the elements of the crime charged, particularly where the crime is a complex one such as conspiracy; and that here the court did not do so. Instead, so the argument goes, the court considered it unnecessary to explain the elements of knowledge and intent to Seiller, relying instead on the language of the indictment and the court's favorable impression of Seiller's intelligence. 35 At first blush, Seiller's argument has a certain surface appeal. Upon analysis, however, it does not stand up as to either his reading of Irizarry or his application of that case to the facts of the instant case. 36 Turning first to Irizarry, in reversing the denial of a § 2255 motion to vacate a judgment of conviction for conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine entered upon the court's acceptance of a plea of guilty, we held that the court had failed to establish the defendant's understanding of the nature of the charge. Our conclusion that Rule 11 had not been complied with was based on: (1) the court's failure to spell out the charge beyond identifying it as conspiracy; (2) the court's inadequate explanation of the nature of conspiracy; and (3) the total dearth of anything in the record to indicate that Irizarry understood the nature of the offense with which he was charged. 508 F.2d at 964. 37 Contrary to Seiller's interpretation of Irizarry, we did not hold that reading of the indictment may never satisfy the requirement that a defendant's understanding of the charge be determined. Our opinion made clear that whether reading the indictment would constitute an adequate determination of a defendant's understanding would depend on the particular circumstances of the case. 508 F.2d at 965 n. 4 and 968 n. 9. See also Rizzo v. United States, 516 F.2d 789, 794 (2 Cir. 1975). 38 The instant case is a far cry from Irizarry. Here, each count to which Seiller sought to enter a plea of guilty was read to him verbatim. Each of the three counts charged that Seiller and his specified co-defendants during a specified period of time had unlawfully, willfully and knowingly combined, conspired, confederated and agreed to violate the substantive provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 2314 (1970); that as part of the conspiracy Seiller and his specified co-defendants would transport or cause to be transported in foreign commerce securities of a value of $5,000 or more, knowing the same to have been stolen, converted and taken by fraud; and that certain specified overt acts 13 in all were committed in furtherance of the respective conspiracies. Unlike Irizarry, the reading of these specific, detailed counts plainly spelled out to Seiller the requisite elements of the crimes with which he was charged; this was done not once, but three times. Unlike Irizarry, Seiller acknowledged three times that he understood the respective charges. See note 3, supra. Unlike Irizarry, Judge Cooper established that Seiller had fully discussed each of the three charges with his attorney, that he had not held anything back from his attorney relating to the three charges, and that he understood everything his attorney had told him regarding his rights with respect to each of the three charges. See note 4, supra. Moreover, the court carefully explained to Seiller in considerable detail the rights he would be waiving by his pleading guilty, all of which Seiller acknowledged he understood. 39 We hold that the district court here was amply justified in relying on the reading of the indictment, coupled with Seiller's discussions with his attorney, his age (47), his university education, his representation by counsel, his alacrity of responses and his show of intelligence in short, the court's total impression of the defendant and his understanding of the proceedings to establish that Seiller understood the nature of the charges. Irizarry v. United States, supra, 508 F.2d at 964 n. 3; Paradiso v. United States, 482 F.2d 409, 414 (3 Cir. 1973); Eagle Thunder v. United States, 477 F.2d 1326, 1328 (8 Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 873 (1973).