Royston v. State

948 S.W.2d 454, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1270, 1997 WL 395285
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 15, 1997
DocketNo. WD 53703
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 948 S.W.2d 454 (Royston v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Royston v. State, 948 S.W.2d 454, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1270, 1997 WL 395285 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

LAURA DENVIR STITH, Judge.

In his sole point on appeal Mr. Royston argues that the trial court erred in denying his Rule 24.035 motion for post-conviction relief without an evidentiary hearing. We agree and remand for such a hearing.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Mr. Royston was charged with two counts of drug trafficking. The first count arose out of the search of a residence which Mr. Roy-ston alleges was owned by his mother and was rented to a Michael Adams. The police found over six grams of cocaine in the residence during the search. Mr. Royston was present in the house at the time of the search and was arrested and charged with drug trafficking. Mr. Royston states that he was in the house at the time the police conducted a search only in order to repair a broken light fixture, that he did not live in the house, and that the drugs belonged to Mr. Adams, not to him.

Mr. Royston asserted in support of his post-conviction motion that after he was arrested he retained attorney Bruce Anderson to represent him. He said that he and Michael Adams went to Mr. Anderson’s office and Mr. Adams signed an affidavit admitting he leased the searched residence and that any drugs there belonged to him or his friends, not to Mr. Royston. Mr. Royston later retained a new attorney, John Humphrey. He alleges that he gave the Adams affidavit to Mr. Humphrey and told him where Mr. Adams lived, but that Mr. Humphrey failed to investigate Mr. Adams.

Mr. Royston was also charged with drug trafficking based on an incident in which the police alleged he threw a baggie of cocaine on the ground as the police approached him and a group of other men standing on the street. Mr. Royston claimed he provided Mr. Humphrey with the names of several men whom he said witnessed his arrest and could testify that he did not throw down a baggie of [455]*455cocaine. He alleges Mr. Humphrey did not investigate this defense or attempt to interview these witnesses.

Mr. Royston alleges that Mr. Humphrey had told him that he would receive only probation. Two days before trial, he alleges, Mr. Humphrey for the first time told him that he could not work out a plea agreement for probation, and that they would be going to trial unless he accepted an agreement for 12 years on each count, to run concurrently with each other and with the 10 year sentence he would have to serve on a prior conviction for which probation would be revoked because of his commission of the two new offenses.

Mr. Royston alleges in his 24.035 motion that he agreed to this plea only because he knew that Mr. Humphrey had done nothing to investigate the two defenses to the two counts against him, had failed to interview witnesses, and was unprepared for trial. The trial court rejected Mr. Royston’s contentions without an evidentiary hearing, stating:

The general rule is that by pleading guilty a movant waives his right to complain about counsel’s failure to investigate, Townsend v. State, 854 S.W.2d 496, 497 (Mo.App. E.D.1993). As in Townsend, movant admitted his guilt to all the charges, assured the court that no one had threatened or coerced him into pleading guilty and said he had no complaints about counsel’s representation.... Based on the foregoing, movant cannot now claim that counsel was ineffective based on the above listed grounds.

Mr. Royston appeals, asserting that the trial court erroneously held that a defendant waives his right to complain about a failure to investigate simply by pleading guilty.

II. LEGAL ANALYSIS

In reviewing this ruling, we are limited to determining whether the motion court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law were clearly erroneous. Rule 24.035(k); Wilson v. State, 813 S.W.2d 833, 835 (Mo. banc 1991). Findings and conclusions are clearly erroneous only if, after a review of the entire record, we are left with the definite and firm impression that a mistake has been made. Id., 813 S.W.2d at 835. The appellant has the burden of proving that the findings and conclusions were clearly erroneous. State v. Nolan, 872 S.W.2d 99, 104 (Mo. banc 1994).

A. Applicable Legal Standards

We do not agree with appellant that the motion court held that a guilty plea waives claims of failure to investigate even in those few instances in which the failure to investigate made the guilty plea involuntary. The court below simply noted that Townsend states, “Generally, the entry of a plea of guilty waives any future complaint a movant may have about plea counsel’s failure to investigate movant’s case.” 854 S.W.2d at 497 (emphasis added). The court below did not deny that Townsend also states that claims of ineffective assistance of counsel are still cognizable to the extent “they affect the vol-untariness and understanding with which the plea of guilty was made.” Id. Rather, the court below simply found that the record below conclusively refuted the idea that the failure to investigate made the plea involuntary, based on the facts that at the guilty plea hearing Mr. Royston “admitted his guilt to all the charges, assured the court that no one had threatened or coerced him into pleading guilty and said he had no complaints about counsel’s representation.” The court below believed that these admissions were conclusive and prevented Mr. Royston from later claiming that he was not guilty or that counsel was inadequate in failing to investigate witnesses and defenses. It is the correctness of the latter ruling which is now before us.

Since Townsend was decided, the Missouri Supreme Court specifically addressed the issue of when a record will be found sufficient to conclusively refute a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in State v. Driver, 912 S.W.2d 52 (Mo. banc 1995). Ms. Driver claimed in a 29.15 motion, following a jury trial, that counsel was ineffective in failing to investigate her claim that she had a concussion and suffered from a disease which would explain her conduct in leaving the scene of an accident. She said that she gave counsel the name and location of medical experts whom [456]*456he could call and that her medical records should have been introduced. She asserted that this evidence, if introduced, could have resulted in her acquittal.

The Driver motion court denied Ms. Driver’s 29.15 motion without an evidentiary hearing on the basis that her claims were conclusively refuted by the following exchange which had occurred at the 29.07 inquiry during sentencing proceedings:

Q: At this time I want to ask you if you have any complaints against your attorney, the Public Defender’s office in this case?
A: No, sir.
Q: You think they did you a good job?
A: Yes, I do.
Q: Did they do anything that you didn’t want them to do?
A: No.
Q: Did they do everything you wanted them to do?
A: Yes, sir.

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

Related

Jacob T. Shepard v. State of Missouri
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2022
Voegtlin v. State
464 S.W.3d 544 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2015)
Morion S. Dawson v. State of Missouri
Missouri Court of Appeals, 2014
Dawson v. State
423 S.W.3d 314 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2014)
Price v. State
171 S.W.3d 154 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
Lomax v. State
163 S.W.3d 561 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2005)
Brown v. State
66 S.W.3d 721 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2002)
Morrison v. State
65 S.W.3d 561 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
948 S.W.2d 454, 1997 Mo. App. LEXIS 1270, 1997 WL 395285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/royston-v-state-moctapp-1997.