Court Opinion

ID: 9851725
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:18:40.160967+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:14.045067
License: Public Domain

BRETT, Judge,
specially concurring:
I concur with the opinion of my brother Judge Parks. However, I wish to add a few comments of my own regarding the requirement in King v. State, 533 P.2d 529, 535 (Okl.Cr.1976), that trial courts determine “from the defendant that there is a factual basis for the plea.”
It is clear to me that no inquiry was made by the trial judge regarding the existence of a factual basis for the plea. However, part of the problem may be that we have never had occasion to address this topic. I wish to explain here my understanding of this requirement so that the District Courts may have some guidance.
I believe the correct method for determining the factual validity of a guilty plea is that found in the A.B.A. Standards For Criminal Justice, § 14-1.6 (Little-Brown 1980), which states:
(a) In accepting a plea of guilty ..., the court should make such inquiry as may be necessary to satisfy itself that there is a factual basis for the plea.
(b) Generally, in determining the accuracy of a plea of guilty, the court may require the defendant to make a detailed statement in the defendant’s own words concerning the commission of the offense to which the defendant is pleading.
(c) Whenever a defendant ... pleads guilty and simultaneously denies culpability, the court must take special care to make certain that there is a factual basis for the plea. The offer of a defendant to plead guilty should not be refused solely because the defendant refuses to admit culpability. Such a plea may be refused where the court has specific reasons for *549doing so which are made a matter of record.
I believe the procedure recommended in sub-section (b) is the “method [which] best accomplishes the intended purpose” of the factual basis requirement. Barkai, Accuracy Inquiries for All Felony and Misdemeanor Pleas: Voluntary Pleas but Innocent Defendants?, 126 U.Pa.L.Rev. 88, 135 (1977). See also Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 261, 92 S.Ct. 495, 498, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971). This method gives “[t]he defendant ... an opportunity to give his version of the facts and the judge gains insight into such factors as specific intent and possible defenses. A presentation by the defendant is likely to suggest questions to the judge which could serve as the starting point for an ensuing colloquy.” Bar-kai, supra at 135-136.
Other methods may also be useful and practical, given the situation. For example, on some occasions the defendant’s statements may not be understood. In such a case his admission to those facts stated in the Information may be deemed to present a valid factual basis for the plea. See Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 637, 649, n.2, 96 S.Ct. 2253, 2260, n.2, 49 L.Ed.2d 108 (1976) (White, J., joined by Stewart, Blackmun, and Powell, JJ, concurring).
Although the United States Supreme Court has yet to call this requirement a necessary part of due process, the requirement serves other important purposes:
[F]irst, it assures that a defendant who seeks to plead guilty is in fact guilty. Persons whose conduct does not fall within the charges brought by a prosecutor should not plead guilty, but unless a factual basis is required, the risk of innocent persons being adjudicated guilty is enhanced. In addition, the finding of a factual basis, when made a matter of record ..., eliminates post conviction fact-finding proceedings aimed at determining the accuracy of guilty pleas. Finally, the information developed in determining the presence of a factual basis is
often quite useful to the court at sentencing.
A.B.A. Standards, Commentary, § 14-1.-6(a).
The requirement that a factual basis must be shown to support the guilty plea is an important part of our criminal jurisprudence, and should be strictly adhered to. I, therefore, concur in the opinion of Judge Parks.