Opinion ID: 1267689
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Effect of Guilty Plea on Certain Assignments of Error

Text: When an accused enters a voluntary and intelligent plea of guilty to an offense, he waives all defenses except those jurisdictional. Peyton v. King, 210 Va. 194, 169 S.E.2d 569 (1969). As we have explained: [A] voluntary and intelligent plea of guilty by an accused is, in reality, a self-supplied conviction authorizing imposition of the punishment fixed by law. It is a waiver of all defenses other than those jurisdictional, effective as such not only in the lower court but as well in this court. Where a conviction is rendered upon such a plea and the punishment fixed by law is in fact imposed in a proceeding free of jurisdictional defect, there is nothing to appeal. To take any other view would give recognition to an empty right and permit frivolous appeals for the mere sake of delay. Id. at 196-97, 169 S.E.2d at 571. Accord Stout v. Commonwealth, 237 Va. 126, 131-32, 376 S.E.2d 288, 291 (when accused knowingly and voluntarily pled guilty, assignments of error challenging constitutionality of death penalty not cognizable on appeal), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 109 S.Ct. 3263, 106 L.Ed.2d 609 (1989); Beaver v. Commonwealth, 232 Va. 521, 527, 352 S.E.2d 342, 345 (accused appealing death sentence may not complain of non-jurisdictional defects that occurred prior to guilty plea), cert. denied, 483 U.S. 1033, 107 S.Ct. 3277, 97 L.Ed.2d 781 (1987); see also Tollett, Warden v. Henderson, 411 U.S. 258, 267, 93 S.Ct. 1602, 1608, 36 L.Ed.2d 235 (1973) (when defendant has admitted in open court that he is guilty of offense charged, he may not thereafter raise independent claims regarding deprivation of constitutional rights that occurred prior to entry of guilty plea); Mason v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 1091, 254 S.E.2d 116, cert. denied, 444 U.S. 919, 100 S.Ct. 239, 62 L.Ed.2d 176 (1979) (capital murder case in which accused pled guilty). Savino's assignments of error 3, 4, 5, 9, and 11 seek to raise issues that he waived by the entry of his guilty plea. [2] These issues, therefore, are not cognizable in this appeal.