Gresham v. State

68 S.W.3d 591, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 657, 2002 WL 93209
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 24, 2002
DocketNo. 24172
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 68 S.W.3d 591 (Gresham 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
Gresham v. State, 68 S.W.3d 591, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 657, 2002 WL 93209 (Mo. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

JOHN E. PARRISH, Judge.

Johnnie Gresham (movant) was convicted of assault in the second degree following a plea of guilty. § 565.060.1(4), RSMo 1994.1 He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.

Following incarceration, movant filed a motion for post-conviction relief as permitted by Rule 24.035. Counsel was appointed and an amended motion filed. The [592]*592motion was denied after an evidentiary hearing. This court affirms.

Movant’s amended motion characterized his sentence in the underlying criminal case as “seven years imprisonment (without a 120 day call-back under Section 559.115).”2 The motion asserts as grounds for vacating his conviction and sentence “that movant was not afforded an opportunity to withdraw his plea of guilty upon the [trial] Court’s rejection of the plea agreement.”

Movant filed a written “Petition to Enter Plea of Guilty” in the underlying criminal case. Paragraph 13 of the motion states:

I declare that no police officer or agent of any federal, state or local law enforcement agency has promised that I will receive a lighter sentence or probation or any form of leniency if I plead GUILTY, except as follows: no_
The Prosecuting Attorney has promised me that if I plead GUILTY, he will do the following: recomend [sic] 7 year sentence under 559.115
If anyone else made any promises to me, I know that he had no authority to do so. I know that the sentence I will receive is completely within the control of the Judge. I hope to receive lenience, but I am prepared to accept any punishment permitted by law which the Court sees fit to impose. However, I respectfully request the Court to consider, in mitigation of punishment, that I have voluntarily entered a PLEA OF GUILTY.

The underlined words are handwritten on printed lines.

At the guilty plea hearing in movant’s criminal case, the trial court inquired if there was a plea agreement. The defendant answered, “Yes.” The prosecuting attorney told the trial court:

Your Honor, my understanding is that [movant] will request a PSI — that the plea agreement is that upon his plea of guilty, the State will recommend that he be sentenced to the Department of Corrections for a period of seven years. The State has agreed to recommend sentencing under 559.115 with some special conditions of probation if, in fact, he is granted probation.

The trial judge then asked the following questions and the participants gave the following answers:

THE COURT: All right. Defense counsel, is that, in fact, the plea agreement here?
[DEFENSE ATTORNEY]: Yes, it is.
THE COURT: Thank you, ma’am. Is that your plea agreement as you understand it, Mr. Gresham?
[MOVANT]: Yes.
THE COURT: Is that your complete plea agreement?
[MOVANT]: Yes.

The trial judge explained various rights possessed by defendants in criminal cases and inquired as to movant’s understanding of those rights. At the conclusion of the trial judge’s inquiry, movant’s attorney was permitted to ask questions. She showed movant the Petition to Enter Plea of Guilty and asked if he recognized the document. He answered, “Yes, ma’am.” The attorney asked movant if they had gone over the document that morning; if they had gone “through each and every paragraph.” He answered that they had. He acknowledged that his attorney had been available to answer any questions; that he understood “everything in here”; that it was his signature on the last page [593]*593of the pleading. Movant said he signed the document “after reading it in full.”

Movant was asked if he was requesting that the trial court accept his plea of guilty. He said he was. He was asked if he was requesting a presentence investigation. He answered, “Yes.” The attorney asked movant if he understood that at his sentencing hearing, following receipt of his presentence investigation report, “the Prosecutor will make the recommendation for a seven year sentence under 559.115, which gives this Judge jurisdiction for a hundred and twenty days”; whether that was his understanding. Movant answered, ‘Tes.” Movant’s attorney then filed the Petition to Enter Plea of Guilty.

The guilty plea hearing concluded with the following questions and answers:

THE COURT: Do you understand that I’m ordering a Presentence Investigation if I accept this plea agreement?
[MOVANT]: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: You understand, however, I do not have to accept, as a Judge, any recommendation by the State or defense counsel.
[MOVANT]: Yes.

The trial judge announced he was accepting movant’s plea of guilty. He stated that movant had requested a presentence investigation. He ordered the investigation and set the sentencing date.

At the sentencing hearing, the trial judge advised movant that he would not “do the 559.” He then reviewed the pre-sentence investigation report in detail. He noted the victim of movant’s crime sustained severe injuries; that “[s]he suffered brain damage — will never be the same as she was before.” He noted the victim also suffered a crushed ankle that required surgery and would require two additional surgery procedures. The victim spent two months in a wheel chair and had to relearn to walk. Medical expenses exceeded $100,000.

The presentence investigation report disclosed movant had four driving-while-intoxicated convictions, two driving-with-excessive-breath-alcohol-content convictions, and two driving-while-revoked convictions. Movant had at least five other traffic violation convictions. Movant admitted being drunk when he committed the offense for which he had pleaded guilty. The court noted the offense occurred less than five months after mov-ant’s last driving-while-intoxicated conviction, for which defendant was fined $300 and placed on one year’s probation.

At the sentencing hearing in the criminal case, the trial judge granted allocution at which time movant’s attorney moved to withdraw movant’s guilty plea asserting that the trial judge would “not be following the Prosecutor’s recommendation.” The motion to withdraw the plea of guilty was denied. Movant was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of seven years.

Movant presents one point on appeal. He contends the motion court erred in denying his Rule 24.035 motion because the trial court’s refusal to permit him to withdraw his guilty plea in the underlying criminal case was contrary to the plea agreement in that case.

This court’s review of the motion court’s denial of a Rule 24.035 motion is limited to a determination of whether the motion court’s findings and conclusions are clearly erroneous. Rule 24.035(k). A motion court’s determination will be found clearly erroneous only if a review of the entire record leaves a definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made. Bauer v. State, 949 S.W.2d 248, 249 (Mo.App.1997).

Movant’s claim of error is based on the contention that he had a plea agree[594]

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Related

Hamilton v. State
300 S.W.3d 538 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2009)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 S.W.3d 591, 2002 Mo. App. LEXIS 657, 2002 WL 93209, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gresham-v-state-moctapp-2002.