Opinion ID: 2549452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Issue 2: Were Sanchez-Cazares' guilty pleas the result of ineffective assistance of counsel?

Text: In an argument closely related to his first, Sanchez-Cazares next claims that the district court should have allowed withdrawal of his guilty plea because he did not have effective assistance of counsel. As stated previously, the decision to allow the withdrawal of a plea is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 22-3210(d). However, the underlying issue of ineffective assistance of counsel involves mixed questions of law and fact which are subject to de novo review. State v. Muriithi, 273 Kan. 952, 955, 46 P.3d 1145 (2002). In that review, we accept as true the evidence and all inferences to be drawn therefrom to support the findings of the trial court and disregard any conflicting evidence or other inferences that might be drawn therefrom. State v. Orr, 262 Kan. 312, 322, 940 P.2d 42 (1997). We stated additional considerations as part of this review in State v. Solomon, 257 Kan. 212, 223, 891 P.2d 407 (1995): To set aside a guilty plea because ineffective assistance of counsel has rendered the plea involuntary, the defendant must show that counsel's performance fell below the standard of reasonableness and `that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's errors, he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial.' Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 58-59, 88 L. Ed. 2d 203, 106 S. Ct. 366 1985). In support of Sanchez-Cazares' claim that his counsel was ineffective, he repeats the points argued in support of his contentions contained in issue 1, i.e., that they did not adequately advise him of the meanings of premeditation and intentional and, accordingly, the factual basis for the charges those terms define. Also as before, he argues that his attorneys coerced him into accepting the plea agreement to avoid angering the judge. As previously noted, we find no error in the explanation given by Sanchez-Cazares' attorneys for the words premeditated and intentional and no coercion to accept the plea agreement. Likewise, we find no error in their advice regarding the factual basis for the charges. Accordingly, he has failed to establish the first of two required elements cited in State v. Solomon, 257 Kan. at 223  his counsel's performance fell below the standard of reasonableness. Sanchez-Cazares also fails to establish Solomon's second required element  that there was a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's errors, he would not have entered the plea and would have insisted on going to trial. While he does argue that he would have proceeded to trial because he probably would have been convicted of a lesser degree of murder, this overlooks the risks associated with trial. Because he killed two people as part of the same act, the State could have charged him with capital murder pursuant to K.S.A. 21-3439(a)(6), which may be punished by the death penalty. See K.S.A. 21-4624. Given the potential for the death penalty and given the substantial evidence against him  numerous eye-witnesses plus a Mirandized confession in which he admitted that he became angry at the two men who crashed the party, left and retrieved his assault rifle, shot the men numerous times as they were already leaving the party, and then fled and concealed the murder weapon  trial would have contained considerable risk. Under these facts, a reasonable person could have concluded Sanchez-Cazares would not have insisted on going to trial. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied his motion to withdraw his guilty pleas based upon ineffective assistance of counsel.