Opinion ID: 715730
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alleged Coercion by Attorneys and Codefendants

Text: 45 Appellant alleges that despite his explicit desire not to enter a guilty plea, his attorney, Michael O'Donnell, together with codefendants and their attorneys, pressured Appellant into accepting the package deal. Appellant claims that he was hounded, browbeaten and yelled at by O'Donnell to accept the plea; that O'Donnell collaborated with codefendants' attorneys to force Appellant to accept the plea; and that when Appellant initially refused to acquiesce, O'Donnell called him stupid and a fucking idiot. While these pressures might have been palpable to Appellant, they do not vitiate the voluntariness of his plea; it was still his choice to make. Indeed, the thorough exchange between the court and Appellant during administration of the Rule 11 protocol, quoted supra, clearly demonstrates that Appellant entered his plea willingly and voluntarily at the time he made it.