Opinion ID: 2465149
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: attempted conviction appeal

Text: Whether a defendant's guilty plea may be withdrawn is controlled by statute. K.S.A. 2010 Supp. 22-3210(d) provides: (1) A plea of guilty or nolo contendere, for good cause shown and within the discretion of the court, may be withdrawn at any time before sentence is adjudged. (2) To correct manifest injustice the court after sentence may set aside the judgment of conviction and permit the defendant to withdraw the plea. When a defendant has filed a motion to withdraw his or her plea in the district court, pursuant to K.S.A. 22-3210, we review the district court's decision under an abuse of discretion standard. See State v. Harned, 281 Kan. 1023, Syl. ¶ 1, 135 P.3d 1169 (2006); State v. Muriithi, 273 Kan. 952, 955, 46 P.3d 1145 (2002); State v. Bey, 270 Kan. 544, Syl. ¶ 3, 17 P.3d 322 (2001). But here Hall cannot proceed to evaluation under these standards. A defendant cannot take a direct appeal from a conviction flowing from a guilty plea. The right to take such a direct appeal is one of the rights surrendered, usually in both a written plea agreement and in open court when the plea is entered. See State v. Campbell, 273 Kan. 414, 424-25, 44 P.3d 349 (2002) (where defendant fully advised on right to appeal, an agreement to waive that right may be enforced). Hall attempts to avoid this bar by saying that he was not competent to enter his plea, but he should have first raised this argument before the district court in a motion to withdraw. Only if the district court rejected that motion could Hall appeal his conviction to this court. See State v. Williams, 37 Kan.App.2d 404, 407, 153 P.3d 566, rev. denied 284 Kan. 951 (2007) (defendant may not file direct appeal from guilty plea unless defendant first files motion to withdraw plea and trial court denies motion). The reasoning behind this process on a competency issue is obvious. We simply are not equipped to decide competency in the first instance. Rather, the district judge was in the best position to judge competency at the time of Hall's plea, having seen the defendant personally. The judge also would have had the opportunity to question Hall further at a later hearing on a motion to withdraw. Although we might functionally be better equipped to address Hall's second argument for reversal of his conviction, i.e., that the district judge inadequately informed him at his plea hearing of the maximum penalty for first-degree murder because of the dispositive power of a transcript, this court still is not Hall's first stop. His guilty plea without a subsequent motion to withdraw in the direct court deprives us of appellate jurisdiction. Hall's counsel on appeal does not appear to appreciate this point, although she demonstrates an understanding of the general procedural bar to consideration of an issue for the first time on appeal. She now argues that we should make an exception, at least on the competency issue, because consideration of Hall's argument is necessary to serve the ends of justice or to prevent denial of fundamental rights. State v. Shopteese, 283 Kan. 331, 339, 153 P.3d 1208 (2007). At oral argument, she, for the first time, cited our decision in State v. Davis, 281 Kan. 169, 176, 130 P.3d 69 (2006), for the proposition that trying or sentencing an incompetent defendant violates due process. Davis also stands for the proposition that, if a defendant requests a competency determination pursuant to K.S.A. 22-3302(1), a court must suspend any further criminal proceedings until a competency hearing is conducted. 281 Kan. at 177, 130 P.3d 69. Davis has no application here. At the time of Hall's plea hearing, although Hough's evaluation result was still pending and the district judge made a competency finding, there actually was no competency-to-stand-trial issue pending. Hough's evaluation had been sought under K.S.A. 22-3219, authorizing the defense of lack of mental state to commit the crimes. Hall had not made his request for evaluation under K.S.A. 22-3302(1), which would have triggered the requirement to suspend proceedings. Then, at his plea hearing, Hall surrendered any right he had to appeal his conviction without first attempting to withdraw his plea in the district court. As stated above, without such an effort, this court lacks jurisdiction to review the merits of Hall's claim that he was incompetent to enter his plea. See Williams, 37 Kan.App.2d at 407, 153 P.3d 566. Hall's appeal of his conviction must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.