Opinion ID: 1220271
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Withdrawal of the Guilty Plea

Text: In the first case, S., a fourteen-year-old boy who lived at defendant's home as a foster child, accused defendant of sexual misconduct. The State charged defendant with four counts of forcible sex abuse and one count of sodomy. Defendant confessed to sexual contact with S. and, on the advice of his attorney, pleaded guilty to one count of forcible sexual abuse on May 31, 1985, in the belief that he would receive leniency because of his clean record. Around the same time, S. escaped from juvenile detention. While defendant was on release pending sentencing, a jury convicted him of sodomy on the child in the second case. After the second trial, defendant presented the judge in the first case with a letter purportedly from S. According to defendant, S., who was still a fugitive from the authorities, had a notarized, certified letter mailed to defendant's attorney. In the letter S. claimed that he not only consented to the sexual contact with defendant but also initiated it and coerced defendant into it. The trial judge, however, expressed concern over the authenticity of the letter. Utah Code Ann. § 77-13-6 (1982) provides: A plea of guilty ... may be withdrawn only upon good cause shown and with leave of court. We will not interfere with a trial judge's determination that a defendant has failed to show good cause unless it clearly appears that the trial judge abused his discretion. State v. Forsyth, 560 P.2d 337, 339 (Utah 1977). We find no abuse of discretion here. Defendant has failed to show good cause why the court should have exercised its discretion to allow withdrawal of the plea. Defendant entered his guilty plea knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently and with the advice of counsel. He did not assert a defense of consent until the letter from S. arrived, which was suspiciously soon after the guilty verdict in the second case. The timing of the letter suggests the possibility that defendant coerced S. to write it or forged it himself because defendant's conviction in the second case increased his chances of receiving a prison sentence in the first case. Although a notary public notarized the signature on the letter, the trial judge was not obligated to believe either that the writer was in fact S. or that the letter's contents were true. It is highly improbable that a young fugitive from custody would seek out a notary and send a certified letter to defendant's attorney. Further, the body of the letter is in different ink and handwriting than the signature, and the only proffered handwriting sample of S. was one in defendant's possession. The content of the letter is also problematic; S. refers to fourteen as the legal age for consent, a fact more likely to be known by defendant than by S. Because of the implausible timing and suspicious content of the letter, we find no abuse of discretion by the trial judge. Furthermore, allowing withdrawal of the plea would greatly prejudice the State. With only a letter purportedly written by the victim, but without the victim himself, the State lacks any evidence to retry defendant. [1] The trial court was within its discretion in deciding that defendant failed to show good cause for withdrawal of the plea.