Opinion ID: 2972199
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reliance on the prior conviction

Text: Jones next contends that the district court improperly relied on a prior state-court conviction in enhancing his sentence pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851. He argues that this prior conviction was the result of an involuntary guilty plea and therefore should not have been used to enhance his sentence. See 21 U.S.C. § 851(c)(2) (allowing defendants to claim that an alleged conviction is invalid). Although “the district court’s conclusion that a plea is voluntary is to some degree a factual finding, . . . the ultimate question whether a plea was voluntary requires a legal conclusion.” United States v. Walker, 160 F.3d 1078, 1095-96 (6th Cir. 1998). We therefore review this issue de novo. Id. No. 03-6239 United States v. Jones Page 5 The criminal offense in question was an October 2001 conviction in state court on one count of selling a controlled substance. Jones’s guilty plea required him to serve a total of three years, 164 days of which were to be in detention and the remainder of which were to be served on probation. Because Jones had already served 165 days in pretrial detention, the plea agreement enabled him to be released from custody immediately. The colloquy between the trial judge and Jones proceeded as follows: The Court: Is your plea freely and voluntarily based? Jones: Yes, sir. The Court: Do you understand the name and nature and elements of the crime that you are charged with? Jones: Yes, sir. The Court: [Counsel], did you advise your client [of] the nature of the crime with which he is charged and any defenses he might have? Counsel: Yes, Judge, we have discussed this on a couple of occasions. The Court: Jones, do you confirm that? Jones: Yes sir. The Court: Do you understand that these rights are still yours? You have the right to a Jury trial. You have the right to face your accusers. You have the right to a lawyer. You have the right to refuse to testify and the Jury will be instructed that that cannot be held against you. If you plead guilty now, you are asking me to let you give up these rights and you are asking me to place sentence upon you. Do you understand that? Jones: Yes sir. Several more questions followed, after which the trial judge asked whether Jones had “any complaints” about his lawyer. This question was answered in the negative, and the sentence was pronounced. Jones now contends that the above sequence of events violated his constitutional rights. He argues that (1) the trial judge failed to adequately inform him of his rights, (2) his low IQ (which hovers around the 19th percentile) required a more thorough explanation of what he was waiving, and (3) the fact that he would be released from custody immediately made the plea bargain offer “by its very nature coercive.” All of these factors, he contends, serve to make his prior conviction constitutionally invalid. These arguments are unpersuasive in light of this court’s ruling in Walker. In that case, the defendant similarly contested his enhanced sentence on the ground that his prior conviction was constitutionally defective. He pointed to his colloquy with the trial judge, which revealed a one- sided conversation punctuated with Walker occasionally stating, “Yes, your honor.” In rejecting his claims, however, this court concluded that “[t]here is no requirement that in order to rely on a defendant’s answers in a guilty-plea colloquy[,] to conclude that the defendant pleaded guilty knowingly and voluntarily, those answers must be lengthy and all-encompassing; a straightforward and simple ‘Yes, your Honor’ is sufficient to bind a defendant to its consequences.” 160 F.3d at 1096. Jones attempts to distinguish Walker by arguing that, while Walker was a “bright young man,” Jones is intellectually infirm, with an extremely low IQ. Moreover, Jones claims that Walker was able to sign the plea agreement during the plea hearing itself, and that the more detailed series of questions asked by the trial judge enabled Walker to understand “what he was doing.” None of these arguments, however, counter Walker’s key observation that “a straightforward and simple ‘Yes, your Honor’ is sufficient to bind a defendant to [the plea agreement’s] consequences.” Id. No. 03-6239 United States v. Jones Page 6 In addition, the state trial judge made repeated efforts to determine whether Jones understood the import of the rights that he was waiving. After each statement, Jones was asked whether he understood what his rights were. His lawyer was also asked if he had gone over the essential elements of the plea bargain with Jones. There is no reason to believe that Jones did not fully understand the consequences of his guilty plea. In light of these extensive safeguards, we conclude that the 2001 conviction was not constitutionally invalid. The district court therefore did not err in relying on the conviction in enhancing Jones’s sentence pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851.