Court Opinion

ID: 9546440
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:29:25.604629+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:16:26.690774
License: Public Domain

Schroeder, J.,
concurring: While I agree with everything said in the court’s opinion, an observation is deemed necessary to clarify my position in this case.
In his motion the petitioner claims he was coerced to plead guilty and coerced not to appeal his conviction and sentence. He names counsel who represented him in the trial court as a witness to sustain these charges. Actually, what the petitioner says in his motion (par. 10 [a] and [b]) is in substance, “I was coerced because I followed the advice of my counsel.”
Now, one either follows the advice of his own counsel voluntarily in a lawsuit or he does not follow it. The petitioner inferentially admits the reasons advanced by his counsel were persuasive and prevailed when he made his decision to plead guilty and not to appeal the conviction.
The petitioner, therefore, does not state facts in his motion, even if established by the testimony of his own counsel, to warrant relief on the ground that he was coerced to plead guilty and refrain from appealing the conviction. What he says in his motion is, “I was voluntarily coerced,” which is nothing more than a frivolous claim.
The word “coerced” used by the petitioner in his motion was simply not used in its ordinary sense, which in the eyes of the law would ordinarily warrant relief, if established.
O’Connor, J., joins in the foregoing concurring opinion.