Scott v. Commonwealth

555 S.W.2d 623, 1977 Ky. App. LEXIS 797
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedAugust 26, 1977
StatusPublished

This text of 555 S.W.2d 623 (Scott v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scott v. Commonwealth, 555 S.W.2d 623, 1977 Ky. App. LEXIS 797 (Ky. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

HOGGE, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order of the Cumberland Circuit Court denying, without an evidentiary hearing, an RCr 11.42 motion to vacate a judgment of conviction for rape.

On March 20,1975 appellant was arrested on a charge of first degree rape; on March 25, 1975 he was indicted and on April 1, 1975 the trial court accepted his plea of guilty to the charge, and sentenced him to twenty years confinement. On March 26, 1976 appellant filed his RCr 11.42 motion to set aside that judgment of conviction, and the court on July 23,1976 entered an order denying the motion which is here on appeal.

Appellant, in this appeal, urges that the judgment of conviction be set aside for the following reasons: 1) the guilty plea was [625]*625not made knowingly and voluntarily, and there was no record of a guilty plea proceeding; 2) failure to conduct a competency hearing when there was reasonable doubt as to appellant’s competency to enter a plea of guilty; 3) denial of effective assistance of counsel; and 4) failure of court to follow mandatory sentencing procedure of KRS 532.050 and KRS 533.010.

This record contains the judgment complained of and is as follows:

JUDGMENT
This cause coming for trial and the defendant being personally present in Court and being represented by counsel appointed by the Court, the Hon. Harlan E. Judd and the Hon. John Sam Cary, and defendant after having been advised by his counsel, appeared in open Court and entered a plea of guilty and a jury having been waived by the defendant expressing no valid reason why judgment should not be pronounced against him, and the Court being sufficiently advised in the premises, it is the judgment of the Court that the defendant Charles Scott, be and is hereby adjudged guilty of Rape in the first degree (as charged in Indictment No. 1033) and is sentenced to Confinement in the state reformatory for a period of twenty (20) years and upon the recommendation of the Commonwealth and the County attorney and the prosecuting witness, it is recommended by the court to the Bureau of Correction Department of Probation and Parole that the defendant immediately upon confinement, be given a brain scan and complete psychiatric evaluation, and such treatment as such evaluation may indicate.
Although the defendant did not ask for probation, the Court is of the opinion that probation should not be granted in this case in as much as the defendant appears to have criminal tendency.
Given under my hand as Judge of the Cumberland Circuit Court, this the 1st day of April 1975. signed Jas. C. Carter Jr., Judge.

RCr 8.08 requires a trial judge, before acceptance of a plea of guilty, to determine that the plea is voluntary.

In addition, Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969) placed more stringent requirements on a trial court before accepting a plea of guilty. In Hartsock v. Commonwealth, Ky., 505 S.W.2d 172 (1974) the court in discussing Boykin said:

Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969), held that one who enters a plea of guilty waives three basic constitutional rights, viz., (1) the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination (2) the right to trial by jury and (3) the right to confront one’s accusers. Boykin held that the record of the trial [court] must affirmatively show that the waiver of those rights was voluntary and that the prisoner understood what he was waiving. It was held that waiver could not be presumed from a silent record.
Boyin places a duty upon the trial judge, before accepting a plea of guilty, to canvass the matter with the accused to make sure that the accused has a full understanding of what the plea connotes and of its consequences and states that when the trial judge discharges that function he leaves a record adequate for any review and forestalls the spinoff of collateral proceedings that seek to probe murky memories. Id. at 173.

In this case, there is little indication in the judgment that the trial court complied with either RCr 8.08 or Boykin. Without a hearing on the RCr 11.42 motion the trial court attempted, by order, to cure this defect, by relating, apparently from his own memory, what took place. In that order the following appears:

As to Paragraph 4 of Movant’s Motion, in which it is alleged that the plea of guilty must be voided in that it was accepted by the trial court without any affirmative showing that it was voluntarily and intelligently made, is without merit. Not only did the Court inquire as to the voluntariness of his plea, and advised him of the penalty that might be imposed, his able attorneys advised him [626]*626privately concerning same, and in the presence of the Court, advised him of the effect of his plea of guilty, and the possible sentence that might be imposed.

This recitation of what took place in connection with this plea of guilty, if it recites all that transpired, still falls short of meeting the requirements of Boykin. The record contains no other enlightenment on this subject, except the statement in the judgment that “defendant after having been advised by counsel” — advised of what?

There is no showing that the trial court, before accepting the plea of guilty, canvassed the matter with the appellant to make sure he had a full understanding of what the plea connoted and its consequences. Not only did the trial court initially fail to make an affirmative record to show a valid waiver of his constitutional rights on his plea of guilty, the trial court’s attempt to correct that record in its order denying relief on the RCr 11.42 motion also failed to show a valid waiver.

It is further urged by the appellant that the trial court further erred by not complying with RCr 8.06 which requires a postponement of the proceedings, and a determination of the issue of insanity as provided by law, when there are reasonable grounds to believe that a defendant is insane, and by not following the mandate of Via v. Commonwealth, Ky., 522 S.W.2d 848 (1975). It is required that an evidentiary hearing be held to determine competency to stand trial when the trial court has reasonable grounds to believe that the defendant is not mentally competent to stand trial.

It is true as pointed out by the ap-pellee, that there is no record of what facts were known to the trial judge that would give him reasonable grounds to believe appellant was not mentally competent to stand trial. However, in its judgment the trial court said:

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Related

Boykin v. Alabama
395 U.S. 238 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Stone v. Commonwealth
456 S.W.2d 43 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1970)
Caldwell v. Commonwealth
503 S.W.2d 485 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1972)
Via v. Commonwealth
522 S.W.2d 848 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1975)
Davis v. Commonwealth
162 S.W.2d 778 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1942)
Hartsock v. Commonwealth
505 S.W.2d 172 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
555 S.W.2d 623, 1977 Ky. App. LEXIS 797, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scott-v-commonwealth-kyctapp-1977.