Court Opinion

ID: 9736269
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 18:49:13.319308+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:27:05.410392
License: Public Domain

Caporale, J.,
concurring.
I agree with the result reached by the majority but believe we should take the time to articulate the distinction between this case and State v. Fischer, 218 Neb. 678, 357 N.W.2d 477 (1984), after remand ante p. 664, 371 N.W.2d 316 (1985), State v. McMahon, 213 Neb. 897, 331 N.W.2d 818 (1983), and State v. Curnyn, 202 Neb. 135, 274 N.W.2d 157 (1979), and thereby dispel the suggestion that the situations in all four cases should be treated in the same fashion.
Fischer, McMahon, and Curnyn hold that where a criminal defendant has not been informed of the penal consequences of his guilty plea, the appropriate remedy on appeal is to remand the matter for a hearing to determine whether the defendant nonetheless knew the range of penalties for the charge. If so, the judgment and sentence are to stand; if not, the judgment and sentence are to be vacated and the defendant permitted to plead anew.
The question arises, then, why a different disposition when the trial judge fails to advise the defendant that he has the right to remain silent and the right to not testify at trial. The answer is that in this situation the trial judge must himself ascertain not only that the defendant knows his rights but must also determine that the defendant voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waives them.
A criminal defendant cannot waive a penalty; therefore, it is only required that he know the penal consequences of his plea. Thus, it matters not where or how he acquires that knowledge so long as he has it at the time of his plea. By contrast, a judge cannot satisfy himself that the defendant has voluntarily, *757knowingly, and intelligently waived the right to remain silent and the right to not testify without, in the absence of unequivocal conduct by the defendant so establishing; specifically asking whether those rights are waived.
The situations are not the same and therefore cannot be treated as if they were.