Opinion ID: 556604
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Explanation of Charge

Text: 20 As previously noted, the District Court explained Count One as charging Allard with use of the mails pursuant to a scheme to defraud the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by misrepresenting his educational qualifications in order to obtain a medical license. See Change of Plea Hearing at 5-6, May 27, 1986. At no time was any reference made to any scheme to defraud Worcester Hospital. Allard contends that this combination of factors rendered the explanation inadequate to apprise him that the charge included a scheme to defraud the Worcester Hospital, and that it misled him into believing that he was charged only with using the mails pursuant to a scheme to defraud the Commonwealth. 21 The government counters with two reasons why it says the explanation Allard received was sufficient to satisfy the requirements of Rule 11. First, it argues that the information was adequate, on its face, to inform Allard that Count One charged him with seeking to defraud the hospital. Second, the government asserts that any deficiency in the trial judge's explanation was cured by the prosecutor's recitation of the facts underlying the plea which it says adequately identified that as part of the charge. We do not find either of these arguments persuasive. 22 In asserting that the information adequately informed Allard of the charge against him, the government relies on the opinion in Allard I that describes the information as fairly put[ting] Allard on notice that he was charged with defrauding the Commonwealth, the Hospital, and others. 864 F.2d at 251. It is true that simply reading an indictment or information to a defendant may satisfy the requirements of Rule 11 if the charging document clearly describes the offense. Fed.R.Crim.P. 11, Advisory Committee Notes on 1974 Amendments; Mack, 635 F.2d at 25 n. 2; Dayton, 604 F.2d at 938. That is particularly so when the offense is not complex and the defendant is, like Allard, well-educated and relatively sophisticated. See Kobrosky, 711 F.2d at 455; United States v. Acevedo-Ramos, 619 F.Supp. 570, 575 (D.P.R.1985), aff'd, United States v. Ramos, 810 F.2d 308 (1st Cir.1987). 23 However, in this case, the information was not read to Allard during the course of the plea colloquy. Nor does the record contain any acknowledgment by Allard that he had previously read it. As a result, there is nothing in the record at the time the plea [was] entered indicating that Allard had been informed of the nature of the charge against him. McCarthy, 394 U.S. at 470, 89 S.Ct. at 1173. Therefore, under these circumstances, no matter how clearly the information may have described the charge, it cannot be viewed as satisfying the mandate of Rule 11(c) that a defendant be informed of the nature of the charge. 24 Nor was the void filled by the prosecutor's recitation and Allard's admission of the facts underlying the charge. Certainly, as Allard concedes, the explanation of the charge need not come directly from the court. It is sufficient that the explanation be made in the court's presence and that requirement is satisfied if the prosecutor adequately explains the charge during the course of the plea colloquy. Dayton, 604 F.2d at 943. See also Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 261, 92 S.Ct. 495, 498, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971). 25 In this case, the government contends that the prosecutor's recitation of the factual basis for Allard's plea did contain such an explanation. Specifically, it cites the following statement: 26 Now, to perform as an intern in a Massachusetts hospital, one is required to have at least a limited license to practice medicine.... 27 To obtain that limited license, on March 17th, 1983, Mr. Allard made application to the Board of Registration in Medicine in Massachusetts, through Worcester City Hospital .... 28 Change of Plea Hearing at 13-14, May 27, 1986 (emphasis added). 29 However, if anything, that statement emphasizes that the gist of the scheme as explained to Allard, was an attempt to fraudulently obtain a license from the Board in which the hospital was only a mechanism for achieving that purpose. Hence, the statement makes reference to the fact that the application mailed to the Board  on March 17, 1983 was made through  the hospital. It does not describe the scheme as one to defraud the hospital. Therefore, we fail to see how that statement informed Allard of the nature of the charge now before us.