Court Opinion

ID: 9542985
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:40:58.696695+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:09:24.128129
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON REHEARING
PARKS, Judge:
On June 24, 1988, this Court issued its opinion in petitioner’s case, ordering that petitioner be allowed to withdraw his plea of nolo contendere. The basis for this decision was the trial court’s failure to conduct an adequate interrogation as to petitioner’s mental competency as well as the failure to ascertain a factual basis for the plea. On July 12, 1988, respondent filed a petition for rehearing, asserting that because “the Defendant does not admit guilt in entering this [nolo contendere] plea,” a factual basis should not be required. We granted rehearing in order to address this limited issue.
King v. State, 553 P.2d 529, 534 (Okla.Crim.App.1976) sets forth the dictates which must be followed by the trial court when accepting a plea of guilty by a defendant. The same guidelines have been followed when a defendant is entering a plea of nolo contendere. See Ellison v. State, 709 P.2d 1064 (Okla.Crim.App.1985). The King guidelines were adopted in order to insure that a defendant’s plea was knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily made as required by Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969). The same concerns are valid when considering a plea of nolo contendere, especially in light of the fact that it has “the same legal effect as a guilty plea except that it may not be used against the defendant as an admission in any civil suit based on the act upon which the criminal prosecution is based.” Morgan v. State, 744 P.2d 1280, 1281 (Okla.Crim.App.1987).
While this Court has acknowledged that a factual basis is proper in a plea of nolo contendere, several other jurisdictions have faced the issue and answered in the affirmative. State v. Alsup, 239 Kan. 673, 722 P.2d 1100, 1105 (1986); State v. Loschen, 221 Neb. 315, 376 N.W.2d 792, 795 (1985); People v. Cannoy, 136 Mich.App. 451, 357 N.W.2d 67, 68 (1984); State v. Teater, 217 Neb. 723, 351 N.W.2d 60, 62 (1984); State v. Schill, 93 Wis.2d 361, 286 N.W.2d 836, *887845 (1980); State v. McGhee, 27 Ariz.App. 119, 551 P.2d 568, 569 (1976). In reaching the conclusion that a factual basis was required for a plea of nolo contendere, the McGhee court, quoting North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 37, 91 S.Ct. 160, 167, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970), stated:
The fact that [a defendant’s] plea was denominated a plea of guilty rather than a plea of nolo contendere is of no constitutional significance with respect to the issue now before us, for the Constitution is concerned with the practical consequences, not the formal categorizations, of state law.
The differences between a plea of guilty and a plea of nolo contendere do not persuade this Court that the trial court’s procedures should vary according to which plea the defendant is entering. See Ligon v. State, 712 P.2d 74, 75 (Okla.Crim.App.1986). We are aware that the determination of an adequate factual basis may pose a slightly different situation when a defendant is entering a nolo contendere plea insofar as the defendant does not actually admit guilt. Respondent asserts that “it would be improper for the trial court to require a recitation by the Defendant of the acts committed by him to form a factual basis for the nolo contendere plea.” While we agree that it would be inconsistent to force a defendant to recite facts regarding his participation in the crime to which his plea is nolo contendere, a trial court may look to other sources to obtain a factual basis for accepting the defendant’s plea. See People v. Spann, 60 Mich.App. 48, 230 N.W.2d 302, 303 (1975). For example, a trial court may consider the preliminary hearing transcript, see, e.g., People v. Chilton, 394 Mich. 34, 228 N.W.2d 210, 213 (1975), may rely on a stipulation of the facts, see, e.g., A.E.K. v. State, 432 So.2d 720, 722 (Fla.Ct.App.1983), or documentary evidence presented to the court, see, e.g., City of Cuyahoga Falls v. Bowers, 9 Ohio St.3d 148, 459 N.E.2d 532, 535 (1984). Additionally, some jurisdictions have enacted statutes which allow a trial court to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine a factual basis. People v. Martinez, 123 Mich.App. 145, 333 N.W.2d 199 (1983); State v. Sinclair, 301 N.C. 193, 270 S.E.2d 418 (1980).
In Ligon v. State, 712 P.2d at 75, this Court acknowledged that the requirement of a factual basis was valid with regard to a nolo contendere plea by upholding the trial court’s action of requiring a factual basis in*a nolo contendere plea. In that case, the procedure used by the trial court to obtain a factual basis was to require the State to make an offer of proof. Such a procedure is consistent with the procedures used in other jurisdictions mentioned above.
Thus, we decline to vary from the requirements set forth in King v. State, 553 P.2d at 534. We expressly hold that a factual basis is required before a trial court may accept a plea of nolo contendere. Accordingly, the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to allow petitioner to withdraw his plea.
Therefore, in light of our previous opinion, this cause is reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent with both the original opinion and the opinion on rehearing.
BRETT, P.J., concurs.
BUSSEY, J., not participating.