People v. Johnson

192 N.W.2d 482, 386 Mich. 305, 1971 Mich. LEXIS 154
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 21, 1971
Docket30 April Term 1971, Docket No. 52,330
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 192 N.W.2d 482 (People v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Johnson, 192 N.W.2d 482, 386 Mich. 305, 1971 Mich. LEXIS 154 (Mich. 1971).

Opinions

Williams, J.

This is one of a quartette of cases dealing with guilty pleas.1

[309]*309This case presents two basic issues before this Court: 1. Whether the defendant’s guilty plea was freely, understandingly, and voluntarily made; 2. Whether the defendant was adequately informed of his constitutional rights by the trial court.

A third question was also raised: Whether the defendant was prejudicially denied counsel at the time of his sentencing.

The defendant Eoger Johnson and one Clifton Downing were charged on August 10, 1962, with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Eugene Oliver. The defendant originally pled not guilty, but then on November 26, 1962, withdrew that plea and pled guilty to the included offense of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to a prison term of not less than 20 years, or more than 40 years.

On September 8, 1967, the defendant filed a delayed motion for setting aside of his plea of guilty and for a new trial. This motion was denied by the trial court on January 30, 1968. An application for delayed appeal was denied by the Court of Appeals on August 30, 1968. This Court granted [310]*310the defendant’s delayed application for leave to appeal on June 24, 1969.

I.

In the instant case, the defendant waited five years before attempting to have his guilty plea set aside. While there is no final time limitation by existing rule, we do not look with favor upon a long-delayed motion for a new trial. People v. Barrows (1959), 358 Mich 267, 272. We recognize the problems of the people in prosecuting the defendant for an offense committed nearly a decade ago.

Appeals such as this one illustrate the need for a court rule which would allow as of right hearings on the merits by motion in the trial court to vacate conviction and to withdraw the guilty plea only for a fixed reasonable period, for' example the first 90 days following the date of sentencing. Such a rule would afford defendants ample opportunity to appeal alleged deprivation of their constitutional rights, while at the same time eliminating long-delayed motions for new trials. Thereafter hearing would only be on good cause shown, both on the merits and reason for delay.

As noted in Rufus Williams (1971), 386 Mich 277 also decided this day, this Court is setting up a committee comprised of members of the Bench and Bar to re-evaluate our current court rule on the acceptance of guilty pleas. That committee should also give serious consideration to a provision limiting the time to move as of right for the withdrawal of a guilty plea and the grant of a new trial.

II.

The defendant’s major contention is that his plea of guilty was not freely, understandingly, and volun[311]*311tarily made. He alleges in an unsupported affidavit that his plea was coerced in that after his arrest he was beaten by a police official until he passed out, and then warned he would be given more of the same if he did not plead guilty. The defendant further alleges that his plea was induced in that he was promised by his attorney, the assistant prosecutor, and a police officer that if he pled guilty he would receive a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. None of these allegations obviously were a matter of record at the time the guilty plea was received.

MCLA § 768.35 (Stat Ann 1954 Rev § 28.1058) deals with the acceptance of guilty pleas and requires the trial court to satisfy itself “ ** * * that said plea was made freely, with full knowledge of the nature of the accusation, and without undue influence.”

Court Rule No 35A (1945) requires “ * * * that the plea was freely, understandingly and voluntarily made, without undue influence, compulsion or duress, and without promise of leniency.” A review of the law in this area illustrates that if the allegations contained in the defendant’s affidavit are true, his plea of guilty must be vacated.2

[312]*312This Court dealt with alleged coerced pleas of guilty in the case of People v. Coates (1953), 337 Mich 56. The defendant in Coates pled guilty to the crimes of rape and robbery armed in 1929. Subsequently he moved to have those pleas vacated in 1947 alleging that he had been threatened with death by police officials if he did not plead guilty. The defendant’s contentions were supported only by his [313]*313own affidavit, and were contradicted by the testimony of the police officials involved. While this Court affirmed the defendant’s convictions in Coates, we also noted that if his allegation was true, it would be grounds for setting aside his plea of guilty:

“We have no hesitation in holding that if such threats came to the attention of any circuit judge a plea of guilty would not be accepted. Moreover, defendant’s answers to questions propounded by Judge Black in open court after his plea of guilty was made contradicts the claim he now makes. In our opinion defendant’s plea of guilty was voluntarily made and with knowledge of the consequences.” 337 Mich 56, 75.

This Court was concerned with a plea of guilty allegedly obtained by inducement in the case of In Re Valle (1961), 364 Mich 471. In that case the defendant pled guilty to the charge of breaking and entering in the nighttime after his court-appointed counsel stated in open court that the prosecutor would not oppose probation with a six months’ jail term. The defendant was subsequently sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison. In holding that such a plea was unlawfully induced and not voluntary, this Court stated:

“In this situation we do not require that the promise of leniency be established beyond any doubt whatever, or even beyond any reasonable doubt in the mind of one learned in the law and acquainted with judicial administration. The requirement is far less stringent: If the evidence establishes that the prosecutor or the judge has made a statement which fairly interpreted by the defendant (in our case of foreign extraction and with only an eighth-grade education, presumably in court for the first time) is a promise of leniency, and the assurance is unfulfilled, the plea may be withdrawn and the case proceed to trial.” 364 Mich 471, 477, 478.

[314]*314The United States Supreme Court has also dealt with the problem of induced pleas of guilty. In Machibroda v. United States (1962), 368 US 487 (82 S Ct 510, 7 L Ed 2d 473) the defendant had pled guilty to two charges of bank robbery in 1956. He was sentenced to imprisonment for 25 years on one charge and for 15 years on the other, the sentences to run consecutively. In 1959 the defendant moved to have his pleas of guilty vacated on the grounds that they had been obtained by promises and threats. An accompanying affidavit of the defendant stated that the United States Attorney had promised him that he would receive a maximum total sentence of 20 years if he pled guilty. The defendant also alleged that the United States Attorney told him that two unsolved bank robberies would be added to his difficulties if he did not plead guilty.

Jn vacating the defendant’s plea of guilty the United States Supreme Court stated:

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Bluebook (online)
192 N.W.2d 482, 386 Mich. 305, 1971 Mich. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-johnson-mich-1971.