Court Opinion

ID: 9614082
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:22:18.083365+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:50:59.789741
License: Public Domain

RUSSON, Judge
(concurring):
I concur in the court’s opinion, but write separately to offer further clarification of post-Gibbons analysis of Rule 11, Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure.
I agree that in determining whether a plea has been knowingly and voluntarily made, a review of the affidavit and the colloquy between the judge and the defendant at the time of taking the plea is necessary. What is important is not the particular format followed by the trial judge, but rather, whether the plea has been knowingly and voluntarily made in strict compliance with Rule 11.
There is nothing sacrosanct about an exchange between a trial judge and a criminal defendant at the time of taking a guilty plea. A guilty plea is most often received in a crowded courtroom with the defendant, often in shackles, looking up at a judge who, in black robe, peers down from an elevated bench. The judge questions the defendant while everyone in the courtroom watches and waits. Silence in such environment can be deafening, and the pressure immense. The situation impels the defendant to immediately answer the judge’s questions.
However, where an affidavit is used, the defendant has privacy and time to prepare, review, and discuss the affidavit with his lawyer. No one is watching and waiting. There are no time limitations. The defendant has the opportunity to ask his lawyer the meaning of certain words and phrases. Consequently, there is more assurance of a knowing and voluntary plea when an affidavit is utilized than when it is not. Of course, the trial judge must still be satisfied, by personal inquiry of the defendant, that the defendant actually read the affidavit, reviewed it with counsel, and understands it.
I do not believe that the Utah Supreme Court in State v. Gibbons, 740 P.2d 1309 (Utah 1987), intended that trial judges must doubt the affidavit of the defendant and personally inquire as to the content of each and every statement made therein. This is borne out in State v. Smith, 777 P.2d 464 (Utah 1989), where the Utah Supreme Court looked to both the affidavit and the colloquy between the judge and the defendant at the time of taking the guilty plea before finding that the record failed to establish compliance with Rule 11. The court stated:
In order for defendant’s guilty plea to be valid and in compliance with rule 11(e)(5) of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure and State v. Gibbons, the record must show that he was unequivocally] and clearly informed about the sentence that would be imposed. Such evidence does not exist either in the affidavit regarding the plea bargain or in the transcript of the guilty plea. Thus, rule 11(e) and State v. Gibbons require the vacating of defendant’s guilty plea on the ground that it was not knowingly and voluntarily made.
Id. at 466 (emphasis added)
It is clear, of course, that in Gibbons, the Utah Supreme Court did place upon the trial judge the burden of ensuring strict compliance with Rule 11. The judge must satisfy him — or herself that where an affidavit is used, the defendant has read and understood it. The amount of inquiry in this regard will depend upon the circumstances. A defendant who is a college graduate and who informs the judge that he has read his affidavit, discussed it with his attorney, and understands it will natu*482rally not require the kind of inquiry as will a defendant who has no education and little or no grasp of the English language.
Accordingly, I fully concur with the majority opinion in the present case wherein the entire record, that is, the affidavit and the exchange between the judge and the defendant, was examined in determining that there had been strict compliance with the requirements of Rule 11.