Commonwealth v. Kidd

11 Pa. D. & C.5th 551
Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County·Decided March 25, 2010·No. no. 3477-2009·Published

Opinion

CEPPARULO, J,

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant Henry Kidd appeals to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania from this court’s denial of his motion to withdraw plea of guilty.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On April 21, 2009, defendant Henry Kidd was arrested for trying to purchase merchandise from a Falls Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania 7-Eleven with a counterfeit $100 bill. On October 19,2009, defendant initially entered a guilty plea to forgery and attempted theft by deception.1 After receiving a full plea colloquy, defendant indicated that he wanted to re-evaluate his situation to withdraw his proposed guilty plea and changed his plea to not guilty. On October 26, 2009, defendant changed his mind again and entered an open guilty plea. Defendant’s plea was accepted and he was immediately sentenced to a period of incarceration of [553] not less than six months, nor more than 24 months on the forgery count, with no further penalty for the attempted theft by deception count.

On November 5, 2009, defendant filed a motion to withdraw plea of guilty alleging that his plea was not knowing, intelligent, or voluntarily entered because he believed that there was an agreement that he would receive a sentence of six to 23 months. Defendant’s motion was denied on November 30, 2009. Defendant appeals from the denial of his motion to withdraw plea of guilty.

III. MATTER COMPLAINED OF ON APPEAL

On January 22,2010, defendant filed his statement of matters complained of on appeal, raising the following issue, verbatim:

“Did the trial court err when it denied appellant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea?”

IV. ANALYSIS

The sole issue defendant raises on appeal is whether this court erred in denying his post-sentence motion to withdraw guilty plea. The standard of review for post-sentence motions for withdrawal is well settled:

“‘[P]ost-sentence motions for withdrawal are subject to higher scrutiny since courts strive to discourage entry of guilty pleas as sentence-testing devices.’ Commonwealth v. Flick, 802 A.2d [620, 623 (Pa. Super. 2002)]. A defendant must demonstrate that manifest injustice [554] would result if the court were to deny his post-sentence motion to withdraw a guilty plea. Id., citing Commonwealth v. Gunter, 565 Pa. 79, 771 A.2d 767 (2001); Commonwealth v. Kirsch, 930 A.2d [1282, 1284 (Pa. Super. 2007)]. ‘Manifest injustice may be established if the plea was not tendered knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.’ Commonwealth v. Hodges, 789 A.2d 764, 765 (Pa. Super. 2002), citing Commonwealth v. Persinger, 532 Pa. 317, 615 A.2d 1305 (1992).” Commonwealth v. Broaden, 980 A.2d 124, 129 (Pa. Super. 2009).

Defendant’s motion claims that his plea was not knowing, intelligent, or voluntarily entered because he believed that there was an agreement that he would receive a sentence of six to 23 months, instead of the six to 24 month sentence he received. A review of defendant’s plea colloquy, however, reveals no such agreement. Defendant received two thorough plea colloquies, where he affirmed his understanding of the meaning and consequences of an open guilty plea, including his understanding of the possible maximum sentence he could receive and that he was pleading guilty, not because of an agreement as to sentence, but because he was actually guilty of the crimes charged.

During defendant’s first guilty plea colloquy, which occurred on October 19, 2009 (N.T. 1, p. 1), after participating in virtually the entire guilty plea colloquy, defendant indicated that he wished to withdraw his guilty plea and to plead not guilty. (N.T. 1, p. 10.) This reevaluation by defendant occurred during the factual presentation of the crimes for which Mr. Kidd was pleading guilty and he indicated to the court that he was not [555] pleading guilty because he was not sure who was representing him. It is worth noting, of course, that the Bucks County Public Defender represented defendant from the initial complaint up to and including the colloquy with the court and we assumed that Mr. Kidd’s only complaint was that different public defenders handled different stages of the case. In any event, during his explanation he stated “then when I get down here, perfect example, today, she just presented the offer to me and I, I — I’m considering it, but I don’t want to give up my right yet”. (N.T. 1, p. 10.) The court responded “there is no offer.” Defendant responded “there is no offer?”. The court responded “no.” (N.T. l,p. 10.)

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Commonwealth v. Kidd, 11 Pa. D. & C.5th 551 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2010).

11 Pa. D. & C.5th 551 (Commonwealth v. Kidd) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Commonwealth v. Persinger
615 A.2d 1305 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Commonwealth v. Hodges
789 A.2d 764 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Commonwealth v. Gunter
771 A.2d 767 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Commonwealth v. Broaden
980 A.2d 124 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)