Opinion ID: 849000
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: United States v. Tucker

Text: The United States Supreme Court relied on Burgett in United States v. Tucker, 404 U.S. 443, 92 S.Ct. 589, 30 L.Ed.2d 592 (1972). Tucker held that a judge may not consider convictions obtained in violation of Gideon when sentencing a defendant for a later offense. At the time of sentencing, the defendant in Tucker had not claimed that his earlier convictions were constitutionally infirm. Instead, he challenged the earlier convictions in a collateral proceeding several years later. Id. at 445, 92 S.Ct. 589. This precedent undercuts the majority's conclusion here that defendants may not challenge the validity of convictions that are used as a basis for later convictions unless they do so timely. The majority undertakes to distinguish Burgett and Tucker on the facts. But the factual differences do not render their holdings inapplicable to this case. The majority misapprehends my reasoning. I do not contend that the current case is indistinguishable from Burgett and Tucker. The fact of defendant's prior guilty pleas differentiates it from them. However, the majority is incorrect in concluding that this factual distinction is so significant that it prevails over constitutional principles. Nor can I agree that defendant's acknowledgment that he had twice before been convicted of OUIL was an acknowledgment that these counselless convictions were constitutionally valid. The transcript of the plea proceedings reveals that defendant admitted two convictions of similar offenses in 1994 and 1996. He was not asked about and he did not admit his guilt of those offenses. There was no attempt to determine if he had counsel in 1994 and in 1996 or had waived the right to counsel. Instead, like the defendant in Tucker, defendant merely acknowledged the fact of the prior convictions. To characterize this as somehow correcting the underlying constitutional error ignores the significance of the right to counsel and contradicts federal precedent establishing that right.