Greathouse v. State

859 S.W.2d 247, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1257, 1993 WL 310559
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 17, 1993
DocketWD 47150
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 859 S.W.2d 247 (Greathouse v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greathouse v. State, 859 S.W.2d 247, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1257, 1993 WL 310559 (Mo. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

HANNA, Judge.

Alfred Greathouse plead guilty to five counts of sodomy and was sentenced to concurrent terms of imprisonment totaling ten years. He filed a timely motion for post-conviction relief under Rule 24.035. Appointed counsel amended the pro se motion incorporating the pro se allegations. The motion court denied relief without an evidentiary hearing. Greathouse now appeals.

The criminal charges against Greathouse stemmed from acts of sodomy on two girls under the age of fourteen. At his guilty plea hearing, Greathouse admitted his complicity and entered a plea of guilty to the five counts of sodomy. The terms of the plea agreement provided for a ten year lid on punishment for each of five counts of sodomy, with the sentences to be run concurrently to each other. The state dismissed a sixth count of sexual abuse.

In his sole point on appeal, Greathouse claims that the motion court clearly erred in denying him an evidentiary hearing on an allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel. He claims “it was clear from the record of the case the [his] counsel failed to fully and properly explain the consequences of pleading guilty to the court and counsel misled [him] as to the possible range of punishment.” Specifically, he contends in his argument to this court that his attorney informed him that the maximum sentence he would receive would only be seven years. He asserts entitlement to an evidentiary hearing because he plead sufficient facts, not refuted by the record, that indicated both ineffective representation and prejudice.

To be entitled to post-conviction relief on claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, a Rule 24.035 movant must plead and prove that counsels deficient performance tainted the voluntariness of the guilty plea. Whaley v. State, 833 S.W.2d 441, 444 (Mo.App.1992). Under Rule 24.-035(g) no evidentiary hearing is required if the motion, files, and record conclusively show no entitlement to post-conviction relief. To warrant an evidentiary hearing, a movant must plead facts, not conclusions, *249 which, if true, would entitle him to relief. Jones v. State, 829 S.W.2d 47, 48 (Mo.App.1992). These facts cannot be refuted by the record and must demonstrate prejudice to his case. Id. To prevail on appeal, the movant bears the burden of showing the motion courts findings to be clearly erroneous and must provide a complete record. Lestourgeon v. State, 837 S.W.2d 588, 590 (Mo.App.1992).

In its findings and conclusions, the motion court determined that the movant’s allegation failed to state how counsels actions affected the guilty plea, and that the allegation was refuted by the record. Rule 24.035(j) limits appellate review to a determination of whether the motion courts findings and conclusions are clearly erroneous. The motion courts findings are presumed correct. Wilson v. State, 813 S.W.2d 833, 835 (Mo. banc 1991).

Lacking any showing of prejudice, the movant’s allegation of ineffective representation makes no reference as to how counsels actions influenced the voluntariness of the guilty plea. That deficiency alone justifies denial of an evidentiary hearing and affirmance on appeal.

The movant now argues that “[t]he factual allegations raised in Appellants amended motion are not refuted in the record of this case.” Of course, the “record” in a Rule 24.035 appeal is primarily the guilty plea transcript, which appellants counsel failed to provide this court as required by Rule 81.12(a). When appealing the denial of an evidentiary hearing in a post-conviction proceeding, the appellant has the burden of providing a transcript containing the entire record necessary to the determination of all questions on appeal. Speakman v. State, 602 S.W.2d 471, 473 (Mo.App.1980). Without the necessary record, this court has no basis to determine whether the allegations are refuted by the record, or whether the motion courts determination is clearly erroneous. Putney v. State, 785 S.W.2d 562, 563 n. 1 (Mo.App.1990); Speakman, 602 S.W.2d at 473. The guilty plea transcript is an essential part of a Rule 24.035 appeal.

Although it is not the respondents responsibility, the state has produced a copy of the transcript in order for us to properly review the matter. The guilty plea transcript reveals that the court requested counsel to state on the record the terms of the plea agreement. The assistant prosecuting attorney stated:

Mr. McKenzie: Judge, in this case Mr. Greathouse is charged in a six-count information, and the State in exchange for a plea of guilty to the six-count information would tell the Court that the offer is that the defendant would plead guilty, then he would be later sentenced by the Court; that a lid has been placed on the possible sentence that Mr. Greathouse would be under, and that lid would be ten years; that in no way could the Court impose a sentence of over ten years, nor could the State argue for such a sentence, and then all six counts in the information would be run concurrent no matter what the sentence was. The only different part of that, Judge, is Count IV, Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, which is a Class D felony, and that would just have the lid of five years, of course, since thats the maximum on that sentence anyway. So that would be the States understanding of the plea.
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The Court: What are you going to do with Count IV?
Mr. McKenzie: Since they are running concurrent, the State will agree to just dismiss Count IV of sexual abuse at the time of sentencing if that would be all right.

Following this discussion, the attorney for Greathouse examined him as follows:

Q: And as recently as this morning when I confirmed to you what the plea offer was — weve talked quite a bit pri- or to today, but today I confirmed that, didnt I?
A: Yes.
Q: All right. Now, you heard Mr. McKenzie outline the plea agreement as proposed by the State, did you not?
*250 A: Yes.
Q: And did you understand his description of the plea agreement?
A: Yes.
Q: And did that description agree with or concur with what your idea of the plea agreement proposed in this case was?
A: Right.
Q: You further understand the latter case, CR90-1677 will be dismissed?
A: Yes.

It is abundantly clear that the record refutes Greathouse’s allegations in his Rule 24.035 motion.

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Bluebook (online)
859 S.W.2d 247, 1993 Mo. App. LEXIS 1257, 1993 WL 310559, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greathouse-v-state-moctapp-1993.