Opinion ID: 2378910
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Should the defendant have been permitted to withdraw his plea of guilty?

Text: On December 6, 1954, the defendant appeared in the Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail Delivery for Allegheny County. Sitting on the bench were Judges WEISS, NIXON, and ALPERN. The indictment was read aloud to the accused by Court Clerk Mazer, who then questioned him: How say you  are you guilty or not guilty of the felony for which you stand charged? The defendant's answer was: Guilty. In Order that it should be clear as sunlight and as obvious as day that he fully comprehended the nature of the proceedings into which he entered of his own free will, the Court interrogated the defendant as follows: Judge ALPERN: Q. We want to make certain Mr. Cole, that you understand now, about the plea of guilty? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Have you made this plea with the full knowledge of the consequences of pleading guilty? A. Yes, I have. Q. Did you discuss the matter, thoroughly, with your counsel? A. Yes, ma'am. Q. Did they urge you to plead guilty, or was it of your own volition? A. They didn't urge me at all. It was of my own. Q. And you know when you are pleading guilty, you are pleading guilty generally? A. Yes. Q. And you have given it consideration and nobody has told you? A. No, ma'am. Judge NIXON: Q. Mr. Cole, I want to be sure you arrived at this conclusion yourself? A. Yes, sir. Q. Without the influence of anybody else? A. Yes, sir. Q. And you realize what you are doing, pleading guilty to murder? A. Yes, sir. Q. And that this court has the responsibility, on your plea, to fix the punishment? That is, the responsibility of this court, there being no arrangements made by this court or anyone else, that by pleading guilty, the sentence of this court would be lenient or not lenient, and in accordance with the facts as presented. Is that right? A. Yes. Q. Under our responsibility, this court has to fix the degree of the crime, do you understand that? A. Yes. Judge ALPERN: Q. Do you know you have a right to a jury trial? A. Yes. Q. And you do not choose to have a jury trial? A. No. When the defendant was arrested, six months prior to appearing in Court, he voluntarily made a written statement in which he related minutely how he strangled to death his victim Pearl Williams. Now, in open Court, after he had testified to the events which occurred at the time of and preceding the murder, his written statement was physically handed to him and he was invited to read it. He devoted 33 minutes to studying the document, whereupon Judge ALPERN questioned him: Judge ALPERN: Q. Mr. Cole, we have given you twenty minutes, and as much other time as you would want to examine Commonwealth Exhibit 16, which represents a voluntary statement made by you to Captain Flynn at the time of this very serious crime. I am asking you now, at 12 o'clock, whether the facts contained in that statement, or whether the statement made by you at that time, was voluntarily made by you to the Police Department? A. Yes. Q. And does Exhibit 16, accurately report what you stated to Captain Flynn? A. Yes. Q. The questions appearing, and asked you? A. Yes. Q. And the answers appearing are the answers you gave? A. Yes. Q. And you made the statement of your own accord, without any duress or force by the Police Department? A. Yes. Q. You have read each page, and have had ample time to read it? A. Yes. Q. And have you had sufficient education to understand everything you read? A. Yes. Throughout the entire prosecution the defendant was represented by two able and experienced counsel who had been appointed by the Court at the defendant's own request. The zeal and competence with which these lawyers championed the defendant's interests were beyond reproach and responded to every requirement in the best traditions of the criminal bar. Notwithstanding counsel's devotion to his welfare, the defendant petioned the Court two months after the hearing to be permitted to withdraw his plea of guilty, claiming that his attorneys had persuaded him to plead guilty. Paragraph 8 of the petition reflects its tenor and purport: That your petitioner entered a plea contrary to his own desires and inclination; he was persuaded by counsel to plead guilty; he acquiesced, being promised that he would thereby receive consideration by the Court in fixing the degree of the crime; however, now after great deliberation and thought, your petitioner firmly believes that the degree of his guilt, if any, should be submitted to a jury, and his fate left in their hands. The Court below found the petition to be without merit. We affirm that finding. It would strain the imagination even of a detective story writer to conjure up a situation where an accused could have more unqualifiedly and uninhibitedly acknowledged his guilt than did William D. Cole. So unreserved were the disclosures of his abhorrent crime that it could seem he experienced gratification in their almost boastful recital. Nor can it be said that he was hurried into court without opportunity to reflect on what he had done, or reconsider what he had said. At least half a year expired between the time of his confession and his appearance in Court, ample time within which to decide whether to affirm or repudiate his admissions. In Court, as already indicated, he corroborated what he had said when first questioned about the crime by the police authorities. If there were the slightest indication that the defendant was misled, or even without being misled there was substance to his petition to withdraw his plea of guilty, or with or without substance there would be some possibility that a jury on the facts would return a verdict of anything less than first degree murder, there might be some reason to further deliberate on his request. A study of the record, however, establishes beyond any conceivable doubt that the defendant's decision to plead guilty was as self-willed as his confession of the crime and the commission of the crime itself. The determination of this Court to affirm the lower Court's refusal of the petition is not based on any so-called technicality but upon a deliberative and reflective review which answers every demand of justice.