Court Opinion

ID: 9549121
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:13:41.192373+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:19:52.974307
License: Public Domain

Williams, J.
(concurring)—Norval contends that he should have been permitted to withdraw his guilty plea, arguing that it was invalid because the record does not contain a sufficient factual basis to support it. To the contrary, in a police report before the court at the plea hearing, the victim described what happened after Norval walked up to his table:
I was quite willing to get up and leave, and I don't remember anybody arguing with him at all, and I remember standing up to get up to leave, and I don't know why he picked me. I was the furthest one away from him, and he just came up to me, and then he ... I remember seeing [him] swinging at me with this pitcher of beer two or three times, and I crashed into some furniture by the corner ... I was almost down on the floor or was already down. I couldn't say. That's when he hit me with this pitcher of beer . . . and I believe he grabbed me up. I was in a complete fog. I couldn't talk, and then he pushed me back to the back door, and I remember somebody says "keep on going," and I went out to the parking lot and ... I was panicked, and I couldn't talk. He just scared the hell out of me, and I'm spouting blood
Three other witnesses described the events similarly. In addition, in his guilty plea, Norval admitted hitting the victim on the head with a beer pitcher.
Because there is sufficient material evidence in the record to establish a factual basis for the guilty plea, the trial court properly exercised its discretion by not permitting Norval to withdraw his plea of guilty. State v. Newton, 87 *785Wn.2d 363, 552 P.2d 682 (1976); State v. Taylor, 83 Wn.2d 594, 521 P.2d 699 (1974).