Court Opinion

ID: 9670455
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:20:55.015686+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:04.636944
License: Public Domain

N. J. Kaufman, J.
(dissenting). I feel that the trial judge should have allowed defendant to withdraw his plea. Although no cause for withdrawal was shown on the record, it is undisputed that the trial judge had actual knowledge of defendant’s potential defense, that his escape was prompted by threats of homosexual attack. Defendant had written a letter to the judge and did not make any claim or notify the prison authorities because he stated that he was afraid of reprisals. The trial judge asked the defendant to take a lie-detector test which would necessitate notifying the prison authorities and, again, would put the defendant in fear of reprisals. Perhaps that is why he never took the lie-detector test. Defendant advanced his claim prior to sentencing, so that he was not motivated by a desire to get a better sentence. I do not believe that a defendant should be forced to take a polygraph test to properly raise a doubt in the trial judge’s mind concerning the validity of the plea. A trial is the more proper forum to test the truth of defendant’s assertions. I can perceive no significant burden on the administration of justice in allowing defendant to do so.