In the Interest of S. F.

719 S.E.2d 558, 312 Ga. App. 671, 2011 Fulton County D. Rep. 3784, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 1025
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 17, 2011
DocketA11A1247
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 719 S.E.2d 558 (In the Interest of S. F.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In the Interest of S. F., 719 S.E.2d 558, 312 Ga. App. 671, 2011 Fulton County D. Rep. 3784, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 1025 (Ga. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

Smith, Presiding Judge.

Following a hearing, 14-year-old S. F. was adjudicated delinquent after admitting to acts which, if committed by an adult, would constitute the crimes of assault and robbery. The juvenile court sentenced S. F. pursuant to OCGA § 15-11-63 (a) (2) (B) (ii), which classifies certain offenses as “designated felony acts,” and ordered that he be placed in the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice for five years and confined in a youth development center for thirty months.

[672]*672S. F. appeals contending that the juvenile court participated in the “plea negotiation” by offering him a “plea,” and then threatened him with a longer term of confinement if he elected to proceed with the adjudication rather than entering an admission. He also claims that the juvenile court failed to make the requisite findings of fact pursuant to OCGA § 15-11-63 (c). For the following reasons, we affirm.

1. S. F. first contends that the juvenile court “directly involved [itself] in the so-called plea negotiation,” and threatened him with a longer term of confinement if he proceeded with adjudication rather than entering an admission. At the beginning of the hearing, S. F.’s counsel announced that the defense was ready for the bench trial. After the State outlined the facts of the case at the request of the court, the court asked about the disposition of S. F.’s juvenile co-defendant. The State explained that the co-defendant made an admission and received “thirty six months.” The court explained:

The only thing I would agree to do in this case would be to give [S. F] the same thing that the other guy got. I wouldn’t give him any[ ]more. I’m not gonna give him any less. I believe if the facts come out as they appear to be, [he] would be a party to a crime and equally culpable ... of course I mean I would listen to your presentation.

S. F.’s counsel responded: “I think that my client would like to go for the trial.” The court then proceeded to swear in the witnesses after which the following colloquy took place:

[The State]: Your Honor, as the first witness, we’d call Deputy —
[The Court]: [Defense counsel], let me ask you a question. He knows what he’s facing?
[Trial Counsel]: Uh, huh.
[The Court]: And the other, he knows — [the co-defendant] pled, right? Do you understand that he’s facing the entire ball of wax?
[Trial Counsel]: I mean I —
[The Court]: Do you want to talk to him one more time?
[Trial Counsel]: I will.
[The Court]: Just let him know that they’re facing the whole thing.
[Trial Counsel]: Yeah.
[The Court]: The judge’s indication that he would plea to three years, which this other gentleman got, would be similar to a plea offer as opposed to anything else.
[673]*673[pause while counsel conferred with S. E]
[The Court]: [Defense counsel], do you have an announcement in this case for the record?
[Trial Counsel]: Yes, sir. [S. E] would like to enter his admission at this time.

The court then posed a series of questions to determine that the admission was knowing and voluntary. In response to the court’s inquiries, S. F. responded affirmatively that he understood the rights he was waiving, including the right to a trial and to present witnesses. At the end of this inquiry, the court asked S. E: “I’m asking you today, right now, do you want to continue this admission or do you want to have a trial?” S. F. responded: “I’ll just go ahead today [and continue with the admission].” S. F. admitted that he and his co-defendant were “over at the track messing around,” and that he was “talking to the lady at the gate, asking her which horse was gonna win” when his co-defendant hit the victim on the head with a brick. S. F. stated further that he ran and that when he looked back he saw the victim on the ground. The court found that S. F. was a party to the crime of aggravated assault for hitting the victim on the head and a party to the crime of robbery for taking the victim’s waist bag containing $200.

The Georgia Supreme Court recently held in Pride v. Kemp, 289 Ga. 353 (711 SE2d 653) (2011), that

[j Judicial participation in plea negotiations is prohibited as a constitutional matter when it is so great as to render a guilty plea involuntary. A guilty plea must be knowingly and voluntarily entered. Making a knowing and voluntary plea requires an understanding of the nature of the charge, the rights being waived, and the consequences of the plea. Due to the force and majesty of the judiciary, a trial court’s participation in the plea negotiation may skew the defendant’s decision-making and render the plea involuntary because a defendant may disregard proper considerations and waive rights based solely on the trial court’s stated inclination as to sentence.

(Citations and punctuation omitted.) Id. at 354. See also Uniform Superior Court Rule 33.5 (A).

Here, trial counsel announced twice that S. F. was ready to proceed with the bench trial, after which the juvenile court stated: “The judge’s indication that he would plea to three years, which this other gentleman got, would be similar to a plea offer as opposed to anything else.” Because the juvenile court presented S. F. with a [674]*674“plea offer” of three years of confinement if he made an admission rather than proceeding with the adjudication, the court inappropriately participated in the “plea negotiation.” See, e.g., Ealey v. State, 310 Ga. App. 893 (714 SE2d 424) (2011).

But the court’s participation in this case was not so great as to make S. F.’s admission involuntary. First, following S. F.’s indication that he wished to make an admission, the juvenile court engaged S. F. in the standard colloquy to determine if S. F. made the admission knowingly and voluntarily. After S. F. stated that he understood the rights he was waiving, he again informed the court that he wished to proceed with an admission.

Second, the juvenile court did not make any threats of a longer term of confinement if S. F. chose to go to trial, nor did it offer S. F. any benefit for making an admission. Compare Pride, supra, 289 Ga. at 354-355 (improper for court to repeatedly state it would impose longer sentence if defendant went to trial); Ealey, supra, 310 Ga. App. at 898 (waiver of right to jury trial invalid where court remarked it would take into consideration fact that court’s time was being used if defendant opted for jury trial and that it intended to “bestow . . . benefits” upon defendant “in exchange for his waiver of the right to a jury trial”); Skomer v. State, 183 Ga. App. 308, 309-310 (358 SE2d 886) (1987) (court improperly participated in plea negotiations by stating that it would consider giving defendants probation if they pled guilty). The juvenile court, sitting as the trier of fact, explained at the beginning of the hearing that it was inclined to give S. F.

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Bluebook (online)
719 S.E.2d 558, 312 Ga. App. 671, 2011 Fulton County D. Rep. 3784, 2011 Ga. App. LEXIS 1025, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-the-interest-of-s-f-gactapp-2011.