State v. Carlson

179 N.W.2d 851, 48 Wis. 2d 222, 1970 Wisc. LEXIS 915
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 6, 1970
DocketState 9
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 179 N.W.2d 851 (State v. Carlson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Carlson, 179 N.W.2d 851, 48 Wis. 2d 222, 1970 Wisc. LEXIS 915 (Wis. 1970).

Opinion

Connor T. Hansen, J.

Two issues are raised on appeal: (1) The state contends the trial court lacked jurisdiction to consider defendant’s motion for withdrawal of pleas because it was not served and filed within one year from the finding of guilty; and (2) the defendant contends the trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to withdraw his pleas of guilty.

Lack of jurisdiction.

The trial court made a finding of guilty on November 6, 1968, by accepting the defendant’s guilty plea. Defendant filed a pro se motion with this court on October 31, 1969, within the one-year time period, and a writ of error was issued on the same date. However, counsel for the defendant was not appointed until November *226 11, 1969, after the one-year time limit had run. Subsequently, that attorney was relieved of his appointment, and the attorney presently representing defendant was appointed on November 14, 1969. On November 21, 1969, seven days after his appointment, counsel for the defendant orally moved the court to withdraw the pleas of guilty in open court with actual notice to the district attorney’s office. At that time the trial court noted the motion was timely. On December 15, 1969, the motion was served and filed.

These facts are nearly identical to those in Meunier v. State (1970), 46 Wis. 2d 271, 174 N. W. 2d 277, where the defendant made a pm se motion within the one-year time limit and his counsel, appointed after the year had run, perfected the motion shortly after his appointment. This court held that the defendant should not be deprived of having his case reviewed on the merits, where he had made his complaint known within the one-year period, but due to administrative procedures, his counsel was unable to perfect the motion until after that period.

In the present case, since the defendant made his complaint known within the one-year limit, and the defendant’s counsel moved that the pleas be vacated shortly after his appointment, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in considering the motion timely.

Withdrawal of pleas.

Defendant contends that his guilty plea may be withdrawn as a matter of right when caused by a violation of a relevant constitutional right. In determining whether a defendant will be allowed to withdraw a plea of guilty, the test applied is whether a manifest injustice would exist if the plea were allowed to stand. State v. Reppin (1967), 35 Wis. 2d 377, 151 N. W. 2d 9. Though Reppin sets forth four illustrative situations constituting manifest injustice, these situations are not *227 exclusive of other facts which meet the test of manifest injustice. State v. Reppin, supra; State v. Biastock (1969), 42 Wis. 2d 525, 167 N. W. 2d 231. This court has long recognized that a defendant may withdraw a plea of guilty as a matter of right where caused by a violation of a relevant constitutional right. Creighbaum v. State (1967), 35 Wis. 2d 17, 150 N. W. 2d 494. This rule was reaffirmed by this court in Ernst v. State (1969), 43 Wis. 2d 661, 667, 170 N. W. 2d 713, which was decided subsequent to Reppin and the adoption of the manifest injustice test.

Eespondent contends, however, that defendant has waived any objections to violation of his constitutional rights by his voluntary plea of guilty. Respondent cites McMann v. Richardson (1970), 397 U. S. 759, 90 Sup. Ct. 1441, 25 L. Ed. 2d 763, for the proposition that a defendant by voluntarily pleading guilty, with advice and assistance of counsel, waives any claim that his plea was a result of an illegally obtained confession. In McMann, the United States Supreme Court held that a defendant who alleges only that he pleaded guilty in a state court because of a prior coerced confession is not, without more, entitled to a hearing on his motion for habeas corpus in a federal district court. However, the court in that case was considering a defendant whose plea was entered with full awareness of possible constitutional challenges to the admissibility of his confession, and was not concerned with a defendant who, at the time he pleaded guilty, was unaware of a potential challenge based on violation of constitutional rights prior to the plea.

A distinction between these two types of situations had been recognized in Wisconsin. In Hawkins v. State (1965), 26 Wis. 2d 443, 132 N. W. 2d 545, this court stated that a plea of guilty is deemed a waiver of objections to violations of constitutional rights occurring prior to entry of the guilty plea. However, the defendant *228 in that case was aware of a potential challenge before he pleaded guilty.

“We are of the opinion, however, that a plea of guilty is properly deemed a waiver of the claim of unlawful search and seizure, where, as here, the pleas were voluntarily and understandingly entered by one who had assistance of counsel. The circumstances under which the same would be true if assistance of counsel had been waived need not be delineated here. Perhaps, in practice, the question would be decided in determining whether there has been intelligent waiver. Conceding that Hawkins, who had assistance of counsel, was influenced in his decision to plead guilty by his awareness of the incriminating evidence in the hands of the police and the fact that his motion to suppress had been denied, it does not seem unfair to require that if he wanted to litigate further his claim of unlawful search, he should have continued with his pleas of not guilty.” Hawkins v. State, supra, pages 449, 450.

In Brisk v. State (1969), 44 Wis. 2d 584, 588, 172 N. W. 2d 199, this court stated that the waiver doctrine set forth in Hawkins, supra, is not controlling, but that one seeking to withdraw a guilty plea may be relieved from the effects of his waiver if without such relief a manifest injustice would exist:

“. . . In Reppin, this court reviewed Hawkins and pointed out the waiver doctrine did not prevent the application of Reppin because the withdrawal of the plea is dictated by the demands of manifest injustice. To be sure, the effects of a knowledgeable voluntary plea of guilty is a waiver of prior errors. But the question under Reppin is whether the plea is to be withdrawn and it cannot be argued logically the errors or grounds for relief were waived and therefore the plea cannot be withdrawn. As we said in Reppin, such a contention is arguing in a vicious circle. The question on a motion to withdraw a plea is not whether the accused has waived his rights but whether he should be relieved from such a waiver. . . .”

*229 In State v. Biastock, supra, page 532, this court stated that the Hawkins

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
179 N.W.2d 851, 48 Wis. 2d 222, 1970 Wisc. LEXIS 915, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-carlson-wis-1970.