State v. Frickey

769 So. 2d 791, 2000 WL 1409688
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 26, 2000
Docket00-KA-294
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 769 So. 2d 791 (State v. Frickey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Frickey, 769 So. 2d 791, 2000 WL 1409688 (La. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

769 So.2d 791 (2000)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Edward J. FRICKEY, Jr.

No. 00-KA-294.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

September 26, 2000.

*792 Louisiana Appellate Project, Margaret S. Sollars, Thibodaux, Louisiana, for Appellant, Edward J. Frickey, Jr.

Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Twenty-Fourth Judicial District, Parish of Jefferson, State of Louisiana, Ellen S. Fantaci, Assistant District Attorney/Attorney of Record on Appeal, Terry M. Boudreaux, Assistant District Attorney, Joseph A. Aluise, Assistant District Attorney/Trial Attorney, Gretna, Louisiana, for Appellee, The State of Louisiana.

Panel composed of Judges Edward A. Dufresne, Jr., James C. Gulotta, Pro Tempore, and H. Charles Gaudin, Pro Tempore.

GULOTTA, Judge Pro Tem.

Edward J. Frickey, Jr. appeals his conviction of third-offense DWI. We affirm the conviction, but vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing.

On May 26, 1999 Frickey was charged by bill of information with violating La. R.S. 14:98(D), driving while intoxicated (DWI), third offense. At arraignment defendant entered a plea of not guilty. He filed various discovery motions and an omnibus motion to suppress evidence, confession, and identification. The record does not indicate there was any disposition of those motions. Instead, at a hearing on December 13, 1999 defendant urged a motion to quash the two predicate convictions.

The trial court denied the motion to quash the prior convictions, whereupon defendant withdrew his former plea and entered a negotiated guilty plea to third offense DWI, reserving his right to appeal the court's ruling on the motion to quash, pursuant to State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976). Defendant executed a form in which he initialed his understanding and waiver of his constitutional rights as provided in Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969). The trial court conducted a plea colloquy which demonstrated defendant's understanding and waiver of the Boykin rights.

After waiving all legal delays, defendant was sentenced to three years at hard labor, with two and one-half years suspended. In lieu of imprisonment, he was ordered *793 to serve six months of the sentence in the home incarceration program. In addition, he was placed on two years' active probation. As a special condition of probation, he was ordered to serve 48 hours of the sentence in the parish prison, beginning at 9:00 a.m. the following day. Among the special conditions of probation, the court also ordered that he attend substance abuse and driver improvement programs and that he forfeit his vehicle, in accordance with La. R.S. 14:98(D)(2). The court imposed the mandatory fine of $2,000.00 in addition to court costs and a commissioners fee.

On December 17, 1999, defendant filed a written motion for appeal.

There was no recitation of the facts at the time of defendant's plea colloquy. Accordingly, we do not know the factual basis for the guilty plea, except that the bill of information alleged the offense occurred on December 23, 1998.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR
The Trial Court erred by failing to suppress/quash the predicating DWI offenses when the defendants pleas were uncounseled, there was no evidence showing a knowing and intelligent waiver of rights, and there was no inquiry in the defendants educational background in the first plea.

The defendant challenges the trial courts denial of his motion to quash the predicate convictions. He asserts not only grounds applicable to both predicate cases, but also grounds that are individual to each.

We note, first, that the record contains no written motion to quash the predicate convictions. La.C.Cr.P. art. 536 requires that a motion to quash shall be in writing and shall specify distinctly the grounds on which it is based; further, the article states, "The court shall hear no objection based on grounds not stated in the motion." However, the trial judge entertained the arguments of counsel without objection from the State, the transcript suggests the motion was specially set for hearing, and the State's brief on appeal does not refer to any irregularity. Accordingly, out of an abundance of caution in the event a written motion was properly filed, we address the merits of the assignment.

The predicate convictions took place on February 20, 1997[1] and on March 4, 1999.[2] Defendant argued that the predicate convictions should be quashed because there was no valid waiver of his right to counsel and because the trial court failed to give him sufficient information regarding his right against self-incrimination at all stages of the proceedings, as required by La.C.Cr.P. art. 556.1(A)(3), or proper information regarding the enhanced penalties for subsequent offenses, as required by La.C.Cr.P. art. 556.1(E).

Regarding the 1997 predicate conviction alone, defendant argued that the guilty plea was infirm because the trial judge made no determination regarding factors such as defendant's age, educational level, background, or employment history; thus, there was no indication of a knowing and intelligent waiver.

With respect to the 1999 predicate conviction alone, defendant argued the trial judge failed to determine whether the plea resulted from plea negotiations or whether the plea was discussed, as required by La.C.Cr.P. art. 556.1(C).

A presumption of regularity attaches to prior convictions in multiple-offender DWI cases; once the State proves the existence of the conviction, the burden is on the defendant to show a constitutional deficiency in the judgment. State v. Pickett, 99-532 (La.App. 5 Cir. 10/26/99), 746 So.2d 185, 187, citing State v. Carlos, 98-1366 (La.7/7/99), 738 So.2d 556, n. 5.

*794 [W]hen a defendant collaterally attacks a prior DWI guilty plea by a motion to quash, the state bears the initial burden of submitting sufficient evidence of the existence of the prior guilty plea and that the defendant was represented at the time it was taken. If the state meets this initial burden, the defendant must produce affirmative evidence showing an infringement of his rights or a procedural irregularity in the taking of the plea. If the defendant carries this burden, then the burden reverts back to the state to prove the constitutionality of the plea.

State v. Manning, 99-1046, p. 2 (La.App. 5 Cir. 2/29/00), 758 So.2d 883, 884, citing State v. Carlos, supra, and State v. Shelton, 621 So.2d 769 (La.1993).

In this case, the State introduced transcripts of the prior guilty plea proceedings along with true copies of the records. The records each contained a Waiver of Rights form, which in both instances are virtually identical to each other and to a form this Circuit has previously approved. State v. Pickett, supra, at 188-189.

EVIDENCE, 1997 PLEA PROCEEDING

The transcript of the 1997 plea proceeding establishes the following: The trial judge advised defendant that he had a right to counsel and if he could not afford an attorney one would be appointed for him. Defendant agreed he understood he was waiving this entitlement. The waiver of rights form, signed by defendant and the trial judge, recites that he has the right to the assistance of a lawyer and that one would be appointed if he could not afford one.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
769 So. 2d 791, 2000 WL 1409688, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-frickey-lactapp-2000.