Court Opinion

ID: 9721681
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:05:24.82742+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:28.139125
License: Public Domain

O’Connor, J.
(concurring). The court correctly states that “a [knowing and voluntary] guilty plea makes irrelevant all nonjurisdictional defects in the proceedings. ” Ante at 145. The court then correctly acknowledges that here there were no claimed jurisdictional defects “in the traditional sense.” Ante at 146. See Police Comm’r of Boston v. Municipal Court of the Dorchester Dist., 374 Mass. 640, 662 (1978), citing Paige v. Sinclair, 237 Mass. 482, 483-484 (1921); Hopkins v. Commonwealth, 3 Met. 460, 462 (1842). The court concludes, however, that since the defendant’s challenge is to the statutory authority of the judge in the jury session to take his guilty plea and sentence him, the claimed defect is jurisdictional after all. The court mischaracterizes the defendant’s challenge. The defendant does not challenge the authority of the judge to dispose of the charges after a knowing and voluntary plea. Indeed, if the defendant’s challenge were to the judge’s authority to take *150a guilty plea, it would have no merit. Rather the defendant challenges the denial of his right to a first instance bench trial. That claim is in no sense jurisdictional. Therefore, I conclude that, if the defendant’s convictions are reviewable, as I believe they are, they are reviewable not because the alleged defect is jurisdictional, but because the guilty plea was constitutionally invalid. The concept of jurisdiction frequently is crucially important. In my view, the court’s approach here obscures understanding of what jurisdiction is.
I join the court in reversing the convictions because I am satisfied that the record does not show that the defendant’s plea was made with an understanding of its consequences. Such a showing is essential to a valid plea. Commonwealth v. Fernandes, 390 Mass. 714, 715-716 (1984). Commonwealth v. Duquette, 386 Mass. 834, 841-842 (1982). One of the Federal constitutional rights waived by a guilty plea is “the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment and applicable to the States by reason of the Fourteenth.” Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 243 (1969). The record does not show a colloquy with the defendant concerning waiver of the privilege against self-incrimination.
Furthermore, a plea of guilty is valid only when the defendant offers it “with sufficient awareness of the relevant circumstances.” Commonwealth v. Fernandes, supra at 715. One of the relevant circumstances here was that the judge would treat the defendant’s waiver of his right to a jury trial and his admission of sufficient facts as a guilty plea. Another relevant circumstance was that the guilty plea would preclude the defendant from arguing on appeal that he had been unlawfully denied his right to a bench trial. Commonwealth v. Nydam, 21 Mass. App. Ct. 66, 68 (1985). Contrast Commonwealth v. Stokes, 18 Mass. App. Ct. 637, 642 (1984) (“The judge’s inquiry . . . before accepting Stokes’s plea of guilty, amply informed Stokes that he was giving up his right to a speedy trial by pleading guilty”). The record does not show that these circumstances were made known to the defendant. As a result, the guilty plea was invalid, and the case must be remanded to the District Court for trial.
*151I agree with the court that in the District Court the defendant has a right to the benefits of the two-tier de nova system. The District Court should be so instructed. Furthermore, I would honor the defendant’s request that the case be remanded for trial not only of the charges of breaking and entering but of the filed larceny complaints as well. See Commonwealth v. Nowells, 390 Mass. 621, 630 (1983); Commonwealth v. Bianco, 388 Mass. 358, 364-365 (1983).