In re J.E.H.

689 A.2d 528, 1996 D.C. App. LEXIS 304, 1996 WL 780561
CourtDistrict of Columbia Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 19, 1996
DocketNo. 95-FS-1133
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 689 A.2d 528 (In re J.E.H.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re J.E.H., 689 A.2d 528, 1996 D.C. App. LEXIS 304, 1996 WL 780561 (D.C. 1996).

Opinion

FERREN, Associate Judge:

J.E.H., a minor, pled guilty to the crime of robbery in exchange for dismissal of a charge of armed robbery and several related charges. Three months later, before the court entered a final disposition, J.E.H. filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. The court held a hearing, denied the motion, and committed J.E.H. to the custody of the Department of Human Services for three years. J.E.H. appeals the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. We affirm.

I.

The following facts are not disputed. On December 8,1994, the police arrested J.E.H. and another youth in connection with an armed robbery. J.E.H. was charged with armed robbery, D.C.Code §§ 22-2901, -3202 (1996 Repl.), carrying a pistol without a license, D.C.Code § 22-3204(a) (1996 Repl.), [529]*529and carrying an unregistered pistol and unregistered ammunition, D.C.Code §§ 6-2311(a), -2361(3) (1995 Repl.). On January 11, 1995, Judge Walton held a plea hearing. J.E.H. agreed to plead guilty to the lesser included offense of robbery, and the government agreed to drop all other charges. After the plea inquiry pursuant to Super.Ct.Juv.R. 11, Judge Walton accepted the plea, released J.E.H. until disposition, and scheduled a disposition hearing for March 1, 1995.

On March 1, Judge Walton continued the disposition hearing until April 25, ordered J.E.H. to undergo both physical and psychological evaluations, and ordered him confined to the Oak Hill Youth Detention Center. On April 13, J.E.H. filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, see Super.Ct.Juv.R. 32(e), in which J.E.H. maintained that psychological testing showed he could not really have understood the nature of the plea proceeding and the rights he had waived, and thus that he could not have knowingly and intelligently pled guilty. J.E.H. also claimed that his psychological difficulties had left him vulnerable to pressure to plead guilty from R.J., his “stepfather” (his mother’s boyfriend and father of J.E.H.’s siblings), and that the guilty plea, therefore, had been coerced, not freely made.

On June 29, 1995, after hearing testimony from J.E.H.’s stepfather and a psychologist who had evaluated J.E.H., Judge Walton denied the Rule 32(e) motion, ruling that J.E.H. had knowingly and intelligently pled guilty and that R.J. had not coerced him into entering the plea. Judge Walton noted that the government’s proffer at the Rule 11 proceeding had been strong, and that the government would suffer substantial prejudice if J.E.H. were allowed to withdraw his plea, especially because the complaining witness had moved to Atlanta, Georgia. Judge Walton also observed that J.E.H. had not claimed innocence and that he had waited three months before attempting to withdraw his plea. The judge then concluded that J.E.H.’s fear of returning to Oak Hill, more than any other factor, had motivated his effort to withdraw the plea. The judge accordingly denied the motion, and this appeal followed.

II.

J.E.H. makes two arguments on appeal. First, he maintains that Judge Walton erred by not ascertaining whether permitting withdrawal of the plea was in the best interest of the child. He cites In re T.R.J., 661 A.2d 1086, 1092 (D.C.1995). Second, J.E.H. argues that even if Judge Walton applied the correct standard, he abused his discretion in denying the motion to withdraw the plea.

A.

In In re T.R.J., at the government’s request, the trial court terminated a neglected child’s commitment to the Department of Human Services because the child, although not yet 21, had been unable to make effective use of the services provided. We held that such termination was contingent upon a finding “that commitment [was] no longer necessary to safeguard the child’s welfare,” expressed in terms “of the child’s best interest.” Id. at 1087. We also assumed, however, that the “interests and safety of the public are factors for consideration in determining appropriate dispositional alternatives for a neglected child.” Id. at 1093; see id. at 1087 n. 2, 1093 n. 7.

Although In re T.R.J. dealt with neglect proceedings, J.E.H. argues that we should apply the same “best interest” standard in delinquency proceedings. He cites the historic role of the juvenile court system as an extension of the very parens patriae role that animates the court’s power in neglect proceedings. He argues in his brief that, like neglect proceedings, delinquency proceedings are “fully child-centered,” and that the role of the court in both proceedings is “the same, i.e., the court is to find the ‘real needs’ of the particular child and bring to bear all the available resources in order to meet those needs.”

We reject J.E.H.’s neglect analogy. The statutes relied on in In re T.R.J. all refer either to detention or to disposition.1 A rul[530]*530ing on a plea 'withdrawal motion under Super.Ct.Juv.R. 32(e) is not a “disposition.” The delinquency statute lists specific “dispositions” the trial court may order under that delinquency section of the statute, see D.C.Code § 16-2320(e) (1989 Repl. & 1996 Supp.), and allowance of withdrawal of a guilty plea is altogether unlike any of the “dispositions” listed. Indeed, Rule 32(e) itself states that a “motion to withdraw a plea of guilty may be made only before a disposi-tional order is entered.” Super.Ct.Juv.R. 32(e) (emphasis added).

Even if we were to apply a “best interest” standard to the court’s consideration of a Rule 32(e) plea withdrawal motion, that standard would not be inconsistent with the “fair and just” standard applied to a presentence plea withdrawal in an adult criminal proceeding. See Binion v. United States, 658 A.2d 187, 191 (D.C.1995). Motions to withdraw a guilty plea, like entry of the plea itself, receive rigorous scrutiny “to ensure that the vast majority of criminal defendants who plead guilty have truly abandoned their constitutional right to a trial with its attendant safeguards.” Gooding v. United States, 529 A.2d 301, 305 (D.C.1987). Furthermore, the language of Super.Ct.Juv.R. 32(e) reflects Super.Ct.Crim.R. 32(e).2 It therefore appears to us that the best interest of the child is protected by applying the same standards under the juvenile rule that apply under the criminal rule— standards that satisfy the due process to which a child, as well as an adult, is entitled. See In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1967); see also Gooding, 529 A.2d at 305 (“The strictness of our review of Rule 11 violations is necessary because a guilty plea cannot have the effect of waiving constitutional rights without due process.”)3.

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

Related

In re A.R.
950 A.2d 667 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
689 A.2d 528, 1996 D.C. App. LEXIS 304, 1996 WL 780561, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-jeh-dc-1996.