In re Anthony Bridger

2017 VT 79, 176 A.3d 489
CourtSupreme Court of Vermont
DecidedAugust 25, 2017
Docket2016-142
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 2017 VT 79 (In re Anthony Bridger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Anthony Bridger, 2017 VT 79, 176 A.3d 489 (Vt. 2017).

Opinions

SKOGLUND, J.

¶ 1. Petitioner Anthony Bridger appeals the trial court's order granting summary judgment to the State on his petition for post-conviction relief (PCR). He argues that his guilty-plea colloquy did not satisfy Vermont Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(f). We agree and so reverse and remand.

¶ 2. The record indicates the following. In July 2009, petitioner was charged in three counties-Bennington, Windham, and Rutland-with committing numerous burglaries. Petitioner pled guilty in the Bennington and Windham cases before the Bennington Criminal Division in September 2009. These cases were then transferred to the Rutland Criminal Division for purposes of joining the pending Rutland matter and for sentencing. In February *4912010, petitioner pled guilty before the Rutland Criminal Division to sixteen counts of burglary in the Rutland docket pursuant to a plea agreement. The remaining Rutland charges-nine counts of grand larceny and eight counts of petit larceny-were dismissed. In addition to an oral Rule 11 colloquy, petitioner signed a written waiver of his rights; he also signed restitution orders. At the sentencing hearing, the State noted that petitioner had cooperated with police and provided them with a full and complete confession. The court sentenced petitioner to six-to-twenty-years on the Rutland charges, and eighteen-months-to-five-years on the transferred Bennington dockets, to be served concurrently with the Rutland counts.

¶ 3. In August 2015, petitioner filed a PCR petition, challenging the sufficiency of the Rutland Criminal Division's plea colloquy under Rule 11(f).1 Rule 11(f) provides that "[n]otwithstanding the acceptance of a plea of guilty, the court should not enter a judgment upon such plea without making such inquiry as shall satisfy it that there is a factual basis for the plea." Petitioner argued that he was entitled to summary judgment because he did not admit to any facts, and the court's colloquy on this point was "unlawfully sparse." The State opposed the motion and filed a cross-motion for summary judgment in its favor.

¶ 4. The PCR court granted summary judgment to the State, relying on the following record from the change-of-plea hearing. At the hearing, the sentencing court discussed each burglary charge with petitioner, including the elements of the charges, the dates of the alleged crimes, the names of the victims, and the maximum penalty for each charge. The court described the rights that petitioner would be giving up by pleading guilty. Petitioner indicated that he understood the information provided to him by the court. The colloquy also included the following exchange:

THE COURT: Do you agree that the affidavit of the [Vermont State Police] troopers that were-the affidavit-numerous affidavits, provide a factual basis to establish each of the essential elements of each of the charges?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
THE COURT: The Court will find that there is a factual basis.

The affidavits, which are part of the trial court record, recite, among other things, the victims' complaints to police and petitioner's confession to committing over twenty burglaries, including those charged. The affidavits set out petitioner's detailed description to police of various facts related to the burglaries, including the layout of the homes and the items that were stolen.

¶ 5. Based on this record, the PCR court concluded that the sentencing court did not violate Rule 11(f). In its analysis, the PCR court first noted that, to satisfy Rule 11(f) under this Court's precedent, the record must " 'affirmatively show sufficient facts to satisfy each element of an offense' "; the sentencing court must directly inquire into the factual basis of the plea; and the defendant must " 'admit to and possess an understanding of the facts as they relate to the law for all elements of the charge or charges to which the defendant has pleaded.' " In re Bridger, 475-8-15 Rdcv, slip op. at 2, 2016 WL 9459781 (Vt. Sup. Ct. Mar. 31, 2016) (quoting In re Stocks, 2014 VT 27, ¶¶ 14, 21, 196 Vt. 160, 94 A.3d 1143 ). The PCR court then stated *492that, under State v. Cleary and State v. Morrissette, "substantial compliance" with Rule 11(f) was sufficient and that a colloquy with a defendant who stipulates to the factual basis of the plea substantially complies with Rule 11(f). State v. Cleary, 2003 VT 9, ¶¶ 15, 29, 175 Vt. 142, 824 A.2d 509 ("When Rule 11 violations are alleged, we require only substantial compliance with the requirements of the rule." (citing State v. Morrissette, 170 Vt. 569, 571, 743 A.2d 1091, 1092-93 (1999) (mem.), overruled by In re Manosh, 2014 VT 95, ¶ 23, 197 Vt. 424, 108 A.3d 212 )).

¶ 6. Here, the sentencing court asked petitioner if he "agree[d] that the ... affidavits provide a factual basis to establish each of the essential elements of each of the charges," and petitioner answered "yes." The PCR court rejected petitioner's contention that his "yes" should be interpreted as something less than an admission of the truth of the facts set forth in those affidavits. The PCR court observed, moreover, that the burglary charges were not factually complex offenses that required a careful clarification as to what specific facts satisfied specific necessary elements of each offense.

¶ 7. The PCR court rejected petitioner's assertion that this case was like Stocks, where the petitioner acknowledged only that he "understood" the State's allegations reflected in the charges against him, but never affirmed that they were true. 2014 VT 27, ¶ 18, 196 Vt. 160, 94 A.3d 1143. Here, petitioner agreed that the affidavits provided a factual basis for each element of each of the charges.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Davis v. State
Vermont Superior Court, 2026
Davis v. Deml
Vermont Superior Court, 2026
State v. Christopher Cochran
Supreme Court of Vermont, 2025
State v. Jamie Prue
Supreme Court of Vermont, 2025
State v. Jessica L. Morrill
2025 VT 19 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2025)
gibbons v. state
Vermont Superior Court, 2024
In re Appeal of M.V.
2022 VT 31 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2022)
Bedell v. State of Vermont
Vermont Superior Court, 2020
State of Vermont v. Jacob M. Rillo
2020 VT 82 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2020)
In re Gregory S. FitzGerald
2020 VT 14 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2020)
Simard v. United States
D. Vermont, 2019
In re James Burke
2019 VT 28 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2019)
Barney v. State
Vermont Superior Court, 2019
Lewis v. State
Vermont Superior Court, 2019
State v. Stuart Lizotte, Jr.
2018 VT 92 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2018)
State v. Mitchell Bowen
2018 VT 87 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2018)
Jones v. State of Vermont
Vermont Superior Court, 2018
East Coast Vapor, LLC v. PA Department of Revenue
189 A.3d 504 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2018)
In re Cynthia Pinheiro
2018 VT 50 (Supreme Court of Vermont, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2017 VT 79, 176 A.3d 489, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-anthony-bridger-vt-2017.