Court Opinion

ID: 9744101
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:53:34.031259+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:46.732119
License: Public Domain

DeBRULER, Justice,
dissenting.
All versions of the guilty plea statute have required that the pleading criminal defendant be informed of "... any possible increased sentence by reason of the fact of *207a prior conviction or convictions." 1.0. 85-35-1-2(a)(8). I take it from the majority opinion that it is now settled that this provision requires information be provided that prior convictions can be used to enhance a sentence beyond the presumptive sentence, and is not confined to the situation where a prior conviction can result in a sentence in excess of the maximum provided for in the criminal statute. Cf. Johnson v. State, (1988), Ind., 453 N.E.2d 975 (Pivar-nik and Givan, dissenting). I certainly join in the majority opinion in that construction.
Appellant made his plea of guilty on April 22, 1981. The recent decision of this court in White v. State (1986), Ind., 497 N.E.2d 898, aside, the guilty plea statute governing appellant's plea commanded that the court "... not accept a plea of guilty from the defendant without first addressing the defendant and * * * (d) informing him of * * * any possible increased sentence by reason of the fact of a prior conviction or convictions ...". As I understand the White case, it does not declare the above provision unconstitutional or at odds with a procedural rule of this court; therefore it is the responsibility of this court to enforce that statute even if we should believe that the statute is unwise or too burdensome or productive of undesirable results. As I now understand the application now being made of the White holding, it is that there will be no enforcement unless the defendant can prove that he would not have pleaded guilty if there had been compliance with the statute. In my mind this is tantamount to simply overriding the letter of the statute and its beneficent spirit. I therefore dissent.