State of Iowa v. Walter Scott Sutton

853 N.W.2d 284, 2014 Iowa App. LEXIS 1266, 2014 WL 4746626
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedMay 14, 2014
Docket13-0810
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 853 N.W.2d 284 (State of Iowa v. Walter Scott Sutton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Iowa v. Walter Scott Sutton, 853 N.W.2d 284, 2014 Iowa App. LEXIS 1266, 2014 WL 4746626 (iowactapp 2014).

Opinions

MULLINS, J.

Walter Sutton appeals his conviction for public intoxication asserting his written guilty plea was invalid and his counsel was ineffective in failing to file a motion in arrest of judgment based on the lack of a factual basis for his plea and the court’s failure to ensure he understood the nature of the charge. Because we find a factual basis to support the guilty plea and that the written record established Sutton understood the nature of the charge, we affirm his conviction.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

An Osceola police officer was dispatched to an apartment building on a complaint that a person threw a microwave oven from the top floor of the building. A witness identified Walter Sutton as the offender, stated he had a bottle containing alcohol, and said he consumed the beverage as he came down the stairs. The officer spoke to Sutton, who emitted a strong odor of alcohol, and arrested him for public intoxication. He subsequently found two hydrocodone pills in Sutton’s pocket.

Sutton filed a written guilty plea to the aggravated misdemeanor crime of public intoxication, third or subsequent offense, on January 22, 2013. See Iowa Code §§ 123.46, 123.91(2) (2011). In the written plea, Sutton stated, “I did appear in [a] public area and I was intoxicated with being convicted at least twice before of same crime.” The court noted the entry of a written guilty plea the same day, ordered a presentence investigation report, and set sentencing for March 14, 2013. The sentencing hearing was continued until May 9, 2013, at which time the court entered judgment on the guilty plea. At the sentencing hearing the court had available the presentence investigation report in which the defendant provided a written statement of his “side of the story of how this crime happened.” Sutton wrote:

I was at a friend’s apartment uptown drinking with him. He and his wife started arguing and she locked me out [286]*286of the apartment and I wasn’t able to call my wife for a ride. I went outside, saw a green Cadillac that I thought belonged to my son. I got into the passenger side and realized it wasn’t my son’s car. I got back out and sat down on the steps to figure out how I would get home. A police officer arrived and stated there was a complaint about me getting into the car, which belonged to someone she knew. I was then arrested for being intoxicated.

The district court sentenced Sutton to two years in prison, suspended the fine, and ordered Sutton to pay restitution for attorney fees and the law enforcement surcharge. Sutton appeals.

II. Guilty Plea.

Sutton contends his attorney was ineffective in failing to file a motion in arrest of judgment to challenge the factual basis and voluntariness of his plea. See Iowa R.Crim. P. 2.24(3)(a) (“A defendant’s failure to challenge the adequacy of a guilty plea proceeding by motion in arrest of judgment shall preclude the defendant’s right to assert such challenge on appeal.”). To prevail, Sutton must prove his attorney breached an essential duty and prejudice resulted. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984).

A. Factual Basis. We begin with Sutton’s claim the plea lacked a factual basis. We find the record adequate to address this claim. See State v. Utter, 803 N.W.2d 647, 651 (Iowa 2011) (noting the applicable standard of review).

Generally, a factual basis may be discerned from “(1) inquiry of the defendant, (2) inquiry of the prosecutor, (3) examination of the presentenee report,

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Bluebook (online)
853 N.W.2d 284, 2014 Iowa App. LEXIS 1266, 2014 WL 4746626, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-of-iowa-v-walter-scott-sutton-iowactapp-2014.