Magee v. State

752 So. 2d 1100, 1999 WL 1034836
Court of Appeals of Mississippi·Decided November 16, 1999·No. 97-CP-01261-COA·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

752 So.2d 1100 (1999)

James Earl MAGEE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Mississippi, Appellee.

No. 97-CP-01261-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

November 16, 1999.

*1101 James Earl Magee, Appellant, pro se.

Office of the Attorney General by Jeffrey A. Klingfuss, Attorney for Appellee.

BEFORE McMILLIN, C.J., MOORE, AND THOMAS, JJ.

McMILLIN, C.J., for the Court:

¶ 1. James Earl Magee has appealed from an order denying him relief without hearing on his motion for post-conviction relief after having entered a plea of guilty to murder. Magee purports to raise four issues for consideration on appeal; however, our analysis of his brief leaves us persuaded that he has, in fact, raised three issues; namely, (a) that his guilty plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered since his diminished intellectual abilities prevented him from fully understanding the consequences of such a plea; (b) that his counsel was ineffective in assisting in his defense for counsel's failure to fully advise him of his rights in the event of a trial and for failing to fully investigate the facts of his case before recommending that he plead guilty; and (c) that, at the very least, the trial court erred in denying him an evidentiary hearing at which he would have the opportunity to prove those matters that would demonstrate his entitlement to relief. Finding no reversible error in the manner in which his motion was handled, we affirm.

I.

Facts

¶ 2. On August 17, 1992, Magee entered a plea of guilty in the Circuit Court of Marion County to the charge of murder for wilfully causing the death of a woman with whom he had been romantically involved. The trial court conducted a hearing in open court before accepting Magee's plea and the transcript of that hearing was a part of the record of Magee's post-sentencing motion. On June 2, 1994, Magee filed a pleading entitled "Motion to Vacate Guilty Plea and Sentence and Conviction." Magee alleged in the motion that his right to file such a motion was found in Mississippi's statutes relating to post-conviction relief, and the trial court treated the motion as such. Magee sought authority to withdraw his plea of guilty and require the State to put him to trial on the murder charge. The court denied Magee any relief on his motion by order dated June 22, 1994, and entered on that same day.

¶ 3. It would be an understatement to say that this case has followed a tortured procedural path since the entry of the order in 1994 denying Magee relief on his post-plea motion. However, it is unnecessary for purposes of our decision to trace those proceedings except to note that the Mississippi Supreme Court, by order dated September 8, 1998, permitted Magee an out of time appeal to present to this Court his arguments as to how the trial court erred when it refused to permit him to withdraw his guilty plea some four years earlier.

II.

Appellant's Lack of Mental Capacity to Knowingly and Voluntarily Enter a Plea of Guilty

¶ 4. Magee alleged that his plea of guilty could not possibly have been entered knowingly and voluntarily because his diminished mental abilities prevented him from fully appreciating the consequences *1102 of his action. In support of that argument, Magee relies solely upon his statement during his plea hearing that, while in high school, he "was in like special ed."

¶ 5. In his appeal to this Court, Magee suggests that it is common knowledge that persons relegated to special education classes suffer from "learning impairments and other types of educational dysfunction" such that it ought to be apparent that he could not fully comprehend the consequences of pleading guilty to the crime of murder.

¶ 6. Magee offers no further evidence by way of affidavits, medical records, or school records to suggest that there might be a genuine issue of his mental competency to fully appreciate the effect of entering a guilty plea to the indictment. Neither is the Court cited to any authority that would suggest that evidence that a defendant may have been enrolled in special education classes during high school is sufficient, standing alone, to create a justiciable issue of a defendant's mental competency to enter a guilty plea. No particular level of intelligence or educational attainment must be demonstrated as a prerequisite to a determination that a plea is being offered knowingly and voluntarily. Rather, each case must turn on its own particular facts. In the related context of exclusion of post-arrest confessions, the Mississippi Supreme Court found that a juvenile whose IQ was substantially below average, had an unspecified learning disability, and whose reading skills tested at approximately the second grade level nevertheless had sufficient comprehension to understand and knowingly waive his Miranda rights. McGowan v. State, 706 So.2d 231, 237-38 (Miss.1997). (It is interesting to note that McGowan also had pled guilty and the plea had been accepted; however, on motion of the State, the plea was vacated when McGowan subsequently refused to honor his pledge of cooperation in the prosecution of others implicated in his crimes. Id. at 238-39.)

¶ 7. In this case, Magee admitted at the plea hearing that he could read and that he had both read the indictment and had it read to him. Additionally, he confirmed that his attorneys had fully explored the charges with him and had advised him of the consequences of pleading guilty. The trial court took Magee through a litany of the various rights that he would be waiving by pleading guilty and Magee, in each instance, affirmed his understanding of that right and his desire to waive it. The standard of competency to enter a plea of guilty is the same as that for determining competency to stand trial. Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389, 399, 113 S.Ct. 2680, 125 L.Ed.2d 321 (1993); Caylor v. State, 437 So.2d 444, 447 (Miss.1983). All that the State must demonstrate as to competency to stand trial is that the defendant has a rational understanding of the charges against him and the ability to assist his lawyer in preparing his defense. Godinez, 509 U.S. at 396, 113 S.Ct. 2680; Caylor, 437 So.2d at 447.

¶ 8. The record shows that the trial court made reasonable inquiry into Magee's competency at the plea hearing before electing to accept his plea. Something more than Magee's assertion that he was assigned to special education classes during his high school career is necessary to raise a legitimate post-plea issue as to his competency to knowingly and voluntarily plead guilty to the charge brought against him in this case.

III.

The Claim of Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

¶ 9. Magee claims that his counsel's performance was so deficient as to have effectively deprived him of the representation guaranteed him under the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. He correctly cites to the standard to measure the (in)effectiveness of his attorney's performance as being the case of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. *1103 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).

¶ 10. However, beyond merely conclusory assertions of the inadequacy of the job done by his attorneys, Magee says only the following:

In the case at hand there was no inquiry of conversations counsel had with Defen

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Magee v. State, 752 So. 2d 1100, 1999 WL 1034836 (Mich. Ct. App. 1999).

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