McKeeth v. State

84 P.3d 575, 139 Idaho 639, 2004 Ida. App. LEXIS 4
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 13, 2004
DocketNo. 29044
StatusPublished

This text of 84 P.3d 575 (McKeeth v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKeeth v. State, 84 P.3d 575, 139 Idaho 639, 2004 Ida. App. LEXIS 4 (Idaho Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

GUTIERREZ, Judge.

William (Bill) McKeeth appeals from the order of the district court denying his application for post-conviction relief. We affirm.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY

The facts of McKeeth’s underlying criminal offense are more fully set forth in our opinion in State v. McKeeth, 136 Idaho 619, 38 P.3d 1275 (Ct.App.2001). To summarize, McKeeth, a licensed professional counselor, was charged with six counts of sexual exploitation by a medical care provider stemming from allegations that he had sexual contact with six of his female patients. McKeeth entered an Alford plea1 on all counts, reserving the right to appeal from the denial of his pre-trial motions. The conditional plea agreement reads:

William McKeeth, defendant herein, agrees to enter a conditional plea of guilty pursuant to ICR 11(a)(2) to the six counts of I.C. § 18-919 as alleged in the Second Amended Complaint. Defendant thereby reserves the right to appeal from the Court’s denial of all pre-trial motions. The State of Idaho hereby consents to this reservation of rights. If the defendant prevails on appeal, he will be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea to the charge.

(Emphasis added).

On appeal, this Court vacated MeKeeth’s convictions and sentences on the first three counts, but affirmed the district court on the remaining three counts. In doing so, we rejected MeKeeth’s argument that his conditional plea agreement allowed him to withdraw his guilty plea as to counts IV-VI. McKeeth, 136 Idaho at 627-628, 38 P.3d at 1283-1284. In particular, we concluded that McKeeth could withdraw his plea only as to each charge for which his conviction was reversed, per the language of his conditional plea agreement.

McKeeth then filed an application for post-conviction relief, based on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, seeking withdrawal of his guilty pleas with regard to counts IV-VI. McKeeth alleged that he had been prejudiced by the deficient performance of his counsel because McKeeth entered his guilty pleas in reliance upon counsel’s advice that McKeeth would be able to withdraw those pleas if he was successful on appeal as to any count. Because he was not allowed to withdraw his guilty pleas, McKeeth contends he was prejudiced by the loss of any opportunity to go to trial on Counts IV-VI. McKeeth’s trial counsel testified at the evidentiary hearing that he had intended to pluralize the word “charge” in the last sentence of the conditional plea agreement, but out of a haste born of running behind schedule, had neglected to include the “s.” McKeeth argued that the failure of his trial counsel to pluralize the word “charge” was defective performance and rendered his trial counsel’s assistance ineffective.

The district court found McKeeth had not been prejudiced and denied relief. McKeeth now appeals.

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

An applicant seeking relief for ineffective assistance of counsel has the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, the allegations on which the claim is based. Idaho Criminal Rule 57(e); Estes v. State, 111 Idaho 430, 436, 725 P.2d 135, 141 (1986). The applicant must show that the attorney’s representation did not meet objective standards of competence, i.e., that counsel’s conduct did not fall “within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance.” Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Aragon v. State, 114 Idaho 758, 760, 760 P.2d 1174, 1176 (1988). The applicant must also demonstrate that he was prejudiced by his attorney’s deficient performance. Strick[641]*641land, 466 U.S. at 691-96, 104 S.Ct. 2062; Aragon, 114 Idaho at 760-761, 760 P.2d at 1176-77. In order to satisfy this “prejudice prong,” a defendant convicted upon a guilty plea “must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors, he would not have pleaded guilty and would have insisted on going to trial.” Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 59, 106 S.Ct. 366, 88 L.Ed.2d 203 (1985). Where the district court conducts an evidentiary hearing and enters findings of fact and conclusions of law, an appellate court will disturb the findings of fact only if they are clearly erroneous, but will freely review the conclusions of law drawn by the district court from those facts. Mitchell v. State, 132 Idaho 274, 276-277, 971 P.2d 727, 729-730 (1998); Gabourie v. State, 125 Idaho 254, 256, 869 P.2d 571, 573 (Ct.App.1994). A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel presents mixed questions of law and fact. Murray v. State, 121 Idaho 918, 921-922, 828 P.2d 1323, 1326-1327 (Ct.App.1992).

III.

ANALYSIS

We first address whether McKeeth’s trial counsel rendered performance that was within the range of competence required of attorneys in criminal cases. See Gilpin-Grubb v. State, 138 Idaho 76, 82, 57 P.3d 787, 793 (2002). In the criminal action, counsel advised McKeeth that the conditional plea agreement would allow McKeeth to withdraw his guilty pleas to those counts on which he did not prevail on appeal. However, in his direct appeal, we concluded that the language of the conditional plea agreement, particularly the use of the term “charge” instead of “charges,” precluded McKeeth from withdrawing his guilty pleas to those counts on which he did not prevail on appeal. Thereafter, both McKeeth and his trial counsel testified in the post-conviction evidentiary hearing that they had intended to reserve the right to withdraw the guilty pleas to all charges if McKeeth prevailed on any count on appeal.

Also adduced at the hearing was testimony from the original prosecution team indicating that although they did not realize it at the time, they now believed McKeeth and his attorney did intend to reserve such a right. There was no evidence presented at the hearing to contradict McKeeth’s allegation that his trial attorney had intended but failed to pluralize the word “charge” in the conditional plea agreement. In light of the evidence presented we conclude that McKeeth has shown trial counsel rendered deficient performance by not drafting the conditional plea agreement according to the terms he and McKeeth intended to proffer.

Resolution of this case therefore turns on whether McKeeth can demonstrate that he was prejudiced by trial counsel’s deficient performance. The district court found that McKeeth was unable to satisfy the prejudice prong of Hill, holding that the deficient performance of MeKeeth’s counsel had been cured by the district court’s advice to McKeeth regarding the operation of conditional pleas. Before accepting McKeeth’s plea, the district court explained:

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

Related

North Carolina v. Alford
400 U.S. 25 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Hill v. Lockhart
474 U.S. 52 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Dunlap v. State
894 P.2d 134 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1995)
Murray v. State
828 P.2d 1323 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1992)
Aragon v. State
760 P.2d 1174 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1988)
Gabourie v. State
869 P.2d 571 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1994)
Mitchell v. State
971 P.2d 727 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1998)
State v. McKeeth
38 P.3d 1275 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 2001)
Gilpin-Grubb v. State
57 P.3d 787 (Idaho Supreme Court, 2002)
Estes v. State
725 P.2d 135 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1986)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
84 P.3d 575, 139 Idaho 639, 2004 Ida. App. LEXIS 4, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckeeth-v-state-idahoctapp-2004.