Greer v. State

428 N.E.2d 787, 1981 Ind. LEXIS 937
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 9, 1981
Docket1280S454
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 428 N.E.2d 787 (Greer v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Greer v. State, 428 N.E.2d 787, 1981 Ind. LEXIS 937 (Ind. 1981).

Opinion

DeBRULER, Justice.

Appellant, William Greer, was charged with the offense of murder in 1978, and upon that charge entered his plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter pursuant to a plea agreement approved by the court. He received a sentence of twenty years. Subsequently he filed a post-conviction proceeding which culminated in a hearing and a judgment denying relief. This is an appeal from that judgment.

In his petition below appellant sought to withdraw his plea of guilty because it was not made knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently, in that the trial court had failed to advise him of consequences of his plea in three respects, namely:

(1) that the court in sentencing could increase the presumptive sentence of ten years by reason of any prior convictions;

(2) that he would be ineligible for parole until he had served one-half of any fixed term of imprisonment; and

(3) that he would be required to suffer a mandatory parole term upon release from prison.

I.

Indiana Code § 35 — 4.1-1-3, states in pertinent part:

“The court shall not accept a plea of guilty from the defendant without first addressing the defendant and
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(d) Informing him of the maximum possible sentence and minimum sentence for the offense charged and of any possible increased sentence by reason of the fact of a prior conviction or convictions, and of any possibility of the imposition of consecutive sentences.” (Emphasis added.)

At the hearing on Greer’s guilty plea the trial judge expressly advised him of the sentencing range as follows:

*789 “THE COURT: A class B felony carries a presumptive sentence of ten (10) years, to which the Court can decrease by four (4) years or increase by ten (10) years. Do you understand that . . .
MR. GREER: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: . . . possible range of penalties from six (6) to twenty (20) years? Do you understand that?
MR. GREER: Yes, sir.
* * * * * *
THE COURT: Do you understand what would happen then? The Court would have a sentencing hearing, at which time you would have the right to produce any mitigating circumstances which might result in a decrease of the sentence, or the State of Indiana may have a right to produce evidence to show there are aggravating circumstances. Do you understand that?
MR. GREER: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: The Court would also have and consider the presentence investigation report in deciding what sentence should be imposed. It will be entirely up to the Court. Do you understand that?
MR. GREER: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: But you would have the right to produce evidence at a sentencing hearing. Do you understand that?
MR. GREER: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Is that your understanding of the plea agreement?
MR. GREER: Yes, sir.”

At the hearing on Greer’s post-conviction proceeding, he did not rely upon the record alone, but personally testified in the following manner:

“Q. All right. So you’ve had at least two (2) presentence investigations in your past that have been done on cases where you’ve been found guilty, right?
A. Where I’ve pleaded guilty for a specific number of years.
Q. Okay. And in those presentence investigations wasn’t one of the first things in that investigation a list of your criminal record?
A. Right.
Q. Okay. And in this case you signed a plea agreement, correct?
A. I did.
Q. And the plea agreement said that one of the things the Judge would consider was the presentence investigation before he sentenced you.
A. Right.
Q. So you knew then that the Judge would consider the presentence, right?
A. Well, yeah.
Q. And you knew the presentence would include your criminal record.
A. Well, among other things....
Q. Okay.
A. ... yes.”

This Court has repeatedly held that the record of the guilty plea proceeding must provide a sufficient basis for the conclusion that the defendant was meaningfully informed of his rights and the consequences of a plea of guilty as required by Ind. Code § 35 — 4.1-1-3. Turman v. State, (1979) Ind., 392 N.E.2d 483. Here, appellant was told in a meaningful manner by the trial court that prior convictions would be considered in deciding whether to give more than the presumptive sentence when the court explained that he could add ten years to the presumptive ten year sentence or subtract four years from it; that he could select a determinate sentence from six to twenty years; and that he would make this decision upon consideration of the presentence investigation report. The presentence investigation report contains the prior criminal record of the defendant, and appellant through his own mouth, under oath, testified at the post-conviction hearing, that he knew at the time the plea was made that a presentence report would reveal his prior criminal convictions. Thus, in this manner, appellant was told by the sentencing judge that his prior convictions would be considered in deciding whether or not to increase the sentence beyond the presumptive ten year sentence, and the re *790 quirements of the statute were satisfied. The findings of the trial court on this point are sustained, and they support the conclusions against appellant. Appellant was not entitled to withdraw his plea of guilty on this basis.

II.

Appellant claimed below that he was entitled to withdraw his plea of guilty as unknowing and involuntary because the trial court at the plea proceeding did not advise him that he would be required to serve a minimum of one-half any determinate sentence set by the court, before becoming eligible for parole. It is alleged that a newly enacted statute increased this minimum from one-third to one-half. According to Ind. Code § 35-4.1-1-6 withdrawal of a guilty plea must be granted if necessary to correct a manifest injustice. A manifest injustice exists when a plea was not knowingly and voluntarily made.

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Related

Jones v. State
491 N.E.2d 542 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1986)
Austin v. State
466 N.E.2d 445 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1984)
Crawford v. State
463 N.E.2d 1101 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1984)
Taylor v. State
459 N.E.2d 37 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1984)
Carr v. State
455 N.E.2d 343 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1983)
Johnson v. State
453 N.E.2d 975 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1983)
Greer v. Duckworth
555 F. Supp. 725 (N.D. Indiana, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
428 N.E.2d 787, 1981 Ind. LEXIS 937, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/greer-v-state-ind-1981.