Court Opinion

ID: 9723313
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:11:26.184568+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:46.787803
License: Public Domain

*690WOLLMAN, Justice
(dissenting).
I would follow those decisions that hold that once the trial court has made it clear to the defendant that the court is not bound by any plea agreements and recommendations made by the prosecutor, it is within the discretion of the trial court to permit the defendant to withdraw his guilty plea if the court in the exercise of its discretion determines that the prosecutor’s sentence recommendation, based upon plea negotiations that are fully and fairly disclosed to the trial court prior to the time that the plea is entered, should not be followed. State v. Parrish, Iowa, 232 N.W.2d 511; Couch v. Commonwealth, Ky., 528 S.W.2d 712; State v. Evans, 194 Neb. 559, 234 N.W.2d 199; State v. Farris, 114 N.H. 355, 320 A.2d 642; Cruz v. State, Tex.Crim.App., 530 S.W.2d 817; Gibson v. State, Tex.Crim. App., 532 S.W.2d 69.
I do not mean to say that there is no merit in the recommended American Bar Association Standards set forth in the majority opinion, nor that our trial courts should not in the exercise of their discretion follow the procedures therein described. Rather, I would give due weight to SDCL 23-35-22, which provides that:
“The court may, at any time before judgment, upon a plea of guilty, permit it to be withdrawn and a plea of not guilty substituted.”
An application to withdraw a plea pursuant to this statute is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court. State v. Pekarek, 82 S.D. 486, 148 N.W.2d 328; State v. Mee, 67 S.D. 335, 292 N.W. 875; State v. Walters, 48 S.D. 322, 204 N.W. 171. When measured against that standard, I would hold that the trial court did not err in denying defendant’s request to withdraw his guilty plea. There is nothing in the record to indicate that the trial court in any way indicated to defendant that the state’s recommended sentence would be imposed; in fact, it is hard to see how the trial court could have made clearer to defendant the fact that the court would not be bound by any such recommendation. The trial court’s questions at the arraignment and the defendant’s answers thereto, together with the defendant’s prearraignment written acknowledgment, establish beyond any doubt that defendant was made aware of the fact that the state’s recommendation that imposition of sentence be suspended and defendant be placed on probation would be only that — a recommendation. Moreover, the state did not fail to carry out its part of the plea bargain. Thus we are not faced with the fact situation that gave rise to the decision in Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427.
In the absence, then, of any record evidence that defendant was in any way led to believe that the trial court would necessarily follow the state’s recommendation, I would hold that the trial court did not err in refusing to grant defendant’s request to withdraw his guilty plea. Rather than to superimpose the above quoted American Bar Association Standards as limitations upon the trial court’s discretion to permit the withdrawal of a guilty plea pursuant to SDCL 23-35-22,1 prefer to look upon those standards as guidelines to be applied by the trial courts on a case-by-case basis as the facts may warrant.
I would affirm the judgment of conviction.