Court Opinion

ID: 9660944
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:24:38.226516+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:23.571491
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Judge
(dissenting).
This is a proceeding under the Post-Conviction Act, Chap. 121, Laws 1966. After an evidentiary hearing the trial court made specific findings of fact and stated its conclusions of law and the proceeding is before this court on appeal from an order denying relief. Section 6 of the Act provides that such order is a final judgment for purposes of review. The sole question presented on appeal is whether the record sustains the court's findings and conclusions of law that there were no infringements of appellant's constitutional rights.
A defendant has the fundamental right to stand trial and to require the state to prove the charges against him in accordance with procedural due process. A plea of guilty is something more than a confession. It is itself a conviction and like a jury verdict is conclusive. Kercheval v. United States, 274 U.S. 220, 47 S.Ct. 582, 71 L.Ed. 1009. "A defendant who enters such a plea simultaneously waives several constitutional rights, including his privilege against compulsory self-incrimination, his right to trial by jury, and his right to confront his accusers. For this waiver to be valid under the Due Process Clause, it must be 'an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right or privilege.' * * * Consequently, if a defendant's guilty plea is not equally voluntary or knowing, it has been obtained in violation of due process and is therefore void." McCarthy v. United States (April 2, 1969), 394 U.S. 459, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 22 L.Ed.2d 418.
*199In State v. Sewell, 69 S.D. 494, 12 N.W.2d 198, the defendant appealed from a judgment imposing the death sentence upon his plea of guilty of the crime of murder. While the case did not present any issue of violation of constitutional rights, this court construing the provisions of SDC 34.2302, making it the duty of the judge before entry of plea of guilty to advise defendant of "his rights in the premises”, recognized that the court has a duty to the accused offering a plea of guilty without any indication that accused knows or appreciates the possible consequences of such plea to admonish him with respect thereto. This court said: "Until the court is solemnly persuaded by a painstaking explanation of the rights afforded the accused by the law, and of the extreme consequences his plea may entail, that the accused is acting with volition and understanding, a plea of guilty should not be entered."
In Boykin v. State of Alabama (June 2, 1969), 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274, as in the instant case, the record did not show that inquiries were made by the court to determine that the plea of guilty was made voluntarily and knowingly. It was error, said the court, "plain on the face of the record, for the trial judge to accept petitioner's guilty plea without an affirmative showing that it was intelligent and voluntary." Concerning the waiver of the constitutional rights of compulsory incrimination, the right to trial by jury and the right to confront one's accusers that takes place when a plea of guilty is entered in a state criminal trial, it was held that no waiver of such federal constitutional rights would be presumed "from a silent record".
Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides a standard for the acceptance in federal courts of a plea of guilty. It expressly directs that the trial court shall not accept a plea of guilty without first inquiring and determining that the plea is voluntary and whether defendant understands the nature of the charge against him and is aware of the consequences of his plea. The holding in Boykin v. State of Alabama, supra, is to the effect that Rule 11 embodies principles of federal constitutional due process which are applicable to the states.
*200In McCarthy v. United States, supra, the court recognized that there was a difference of opinion among the courts of appeal regarding the effect of noncompliance with this rule. If voluntariness could not be determined from the record, it was the practice in certain circuits to remand for evidentiary hearing on the issue. In other circuits if a district court did not comply with the rule, the guilty plea was set aside and the cause was remanded for another hearing at which it was permissible for defendant to replead. Adopting the latter rule, the court in the McCarthy case said: "From the defendant's perspective, the efficacy of shifting the burden of proof to the Government at a later voluntariness hearing is questionable. In meeting its burden, the Government will undoubtedly rely upon the defendant's statement that he desired to plead guilty and frequently a statement that the plea was not induced by any threats or promises. This prima facie case for voluntariness is likely to be treated as irrebuttable in cases such as this one, where the defendant's reply is limited to his own plaintiff allegations that he did not understand the nature of the charge and therefore failed to assert a valid defense or to limit his guilty plea only to a lesser included offense. No matter how true these allegations may be, rarely, if ever, can a defendant corroborate them in a post-plea voluntariness hearing." This rule, said the court in the Boykin case, "forestalls the spin-off of collateral proceedings that seek to probe murky memories."
It appears that there had been plea discussions and an agreement to reduce the charged offense of murder to manslaughter in the first degree. Defendant was interrogated at his arraignment as follows: "THE COURT: You're not guilty of murder? DEFENDANT: No. THE COURT: * * * Now, Mr. Brech, included within the crime of murder is a lesser crime known as manslaughter in the first degree. I'll ask you now, are you guilty or not guilty of manslaughter in the first degree? You have to answer that. DEFENDANT: Yes." The court then directed entry of plea of guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. There is a serious question whether the answer "Yes" to the compound question is a trustworthy and sufficient record of a plea of guilty. Even if the answer was equivalent to a plea *201of guilty, there is no valid record at the time of the arraignment that the plea was made voluntarily and knowingly. A plea of guilty, a confession in open court, is subject to no less stringent test than that applicable to a simple confession. See State v. Hinz, 78 S.D. 442, 103 N.W.2d 656; Jackson v. Denno, 378 U.S. 368, 84 S.Ct. 1774, 12 L.Ed.2d 908, 1 A.L.R.3d 1205. In either case voluntariness requires that the confession be not induced by a promise or a threat and that it be in fact voluntarily made. The court is not relieved of such duty because defendant is represented by counsel. United States v. Lester, 2 Cir., 247 F.2d 496; United States ex rel. Elksnis v. Gilligan, D.C., 256 F.Supp. 244. And no matter how overwhelming the proof of guilt may appear, the ascertainment of voluntariness and understanding as a matter of due process must be made at the arraignment. United States v. Tateo, D.C., 214 F.Supp. 560.
The court concludes that a mere deviation from statutory procedure in arraignment and entry of plea does not amount to denial of due process. I agree that a particular ritual is not necessary, but this does not end the matter. Whatever the procedure followed, for a plea of guilty to be valid under federal standards binding on state courts, it must fairly appear from the record that the plea of guilty was made voluntarily and knowingly. Boykin v. State of Alabama, supra. Because the record does not affirmatively so show, I am impelled to dissent. I would reverse and remand with directions to vacate the judgment and to permit defendant to replead.