Opinion ID: 2304166
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: New Trial/Withdraw Guilty Plea

Text: The defendant asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial based upon the discovery of new evidence. He contends that the suppression order in the case involving the driver constitutes new evidence because the district court granted the driver's motion to suppress all the evidence, including the marijuana, after the defendant pled guilty. Moreover, he argues that the suppression changed the status of the evidence justifying a motion for a new trial. We disagree. As an initial matter, the trial court concluded that the defendant's motion was properly a motion to withdraw a guilty plea, not a motion for a new trial. Because the defendant pled guilty and never went to trial, the proper analysis is not the new trial standard, but the standard for withdrawing a guilty plea. As a result, we decline to address the defendant's argument for a new trial. When a defendant moves to withdraw a guilty plea, he has the burden to prove that his earlier plea was made involuntarily and that withdrawal of the plea must be allowed to correct a manifest injustice. Sharkey, 155 N.H. at 640, 927 A.2d 519. It is within the trial court's discretion to allow the withdrawal of a guilty plea. Id. We will not set aside the trial court's decision unless it committed an unsustainable exercise of discretion. Id. at 640-61, 927 A.2d 519. To show that the trial court's decision was unsustainable, the defendant must demonstrate that the court's ruling was clearly untenable or unreasonable to the prejudice of his case. State v. Lambert, 147 N.H. 295, 296, 787 A.2d 175 (2001). Here, the defendant failed to meet his burden of proof to withdraw his guilty plea. At the plea and sentencing hearing, he stated that he was pleading guilty because he was in fact guilty and for no other reason. He also admitted that he did not feel threatened by anyone to enter a guilty plea and his decision to enter a plea was free and voluntary. In addition, he gave up his right to have the court exclude at trial any evidence that was improperly obtained. The record reveals nothing contrary to a conclusion that the defendant knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily pled guilty, and the defendant fails to argue otherwise. Further, as stated previously, the successful suppression order in the driver's case did not render the marijuana unavailable as evidence in the defendant's case. Consequently, there was no manifest injustice to correct in this case. Affirmed.