State v. Grijalba

755 P.2d 417, 157 Ariz. 112, 9 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 18, 1988 Ariz. LEXIS 74
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJune 2, 1988
DocketCR-87-0324-PR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 755 P.2d 417 (State v. Grijalba) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona 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. Grijalba, 755 P.2d 417, 157 Ariz. 112, 9 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 18, 1988 Ariz. LEXIS 74 (Ark. 1988).

Opinions

HOLOHAN, Justice.

Defendant, Juaquin Juarez Grijalba, pled guilty to one count of attempted second degree burglary. A.R.S. § 13-1001(C)(3). The trial court sentenced him to four years in confinement plus $78.00 in restitution to the victim. Defendant appealed.

Relying on previous opinions of this court, the Court of Appeals vacated the judgment and sentence, and remanded the case to allow the defendant to withdraw the plea. The state petitioned this court for review which we granted. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Ariz. Const, art. 6 § 5(3) and 17 A.R.S. Ariz.R.Crim.P. 31.19.

The state raises the following issue for review:

Should State v. Lukens, 151 Ariz. 502, 729 P.2d 306 (1986), and State v. Phillips, 152 Ariz. 533, 733 P.2d 1116 (1987), [113]*113be overruled or limited to those cases only where the defendant was completely unaware that he was facing any monetary liability?

FACTS

On December 14, 1986, Douglas police responded to the activation of a burglar alarm at a home in Douglas, Arizona. Upon arrival, they found that an iron window guard had been pried open and a sliding glass window had been broken. Nearby the police found defendant hiding in the oleanders. The defendant was arrested and charged with the crime of second degree burglary, a class 3 felony (A.R.S. § 13-1507), criminal damage to property, a class 6 felony (A.R.S. § 13-1602), and knowingly possessing marijuana, a class 6 felony (A.R.S. § 13-3405). The state and the defendant entered into a plea agreement in which the defendant agreed to plead guilty to one count of attempted second degree burglary.

The plea agreement included the following:

1. That the defendant will receive a sentence no greater than 5 yrs/$150,000 fine plus 37% surcharge and no less than suspended sentence and consistent with the following:
None
2. Special Sentencing Provision:
a. Defendant in accordance with A.R. S. § 13-808, must pay $100.00 to the Victim Compensation Fund through the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court.
b. If Defendant’s acts, including acts charged in Counts of the Indictment which are to be dismissed pursuant to this plea agreement, have resulted in economic loss to any person, the defendant agrees to make full restitution for the loss.

The defendant entered his plea of guilty on January 26, 1987. No specific amount of restitution was stated, only the general requirement that restitution was to be made.

On February 17,1987, the defendant was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay restitution of $78.00 to the victim of the crime. No objection to the restitution order was raised at the time of the sentencing. The defendant appealed.

In a memorandum decision, the Court of Appeals vacated the judgment of guilt and sentence, and remanded the case to allow defendant to withdraw from the plea. In reaching its decision, the Court of Appeals noted that by failing to specify the amount of restitution, defendant's guilty plea could not be thoroughly understood and thus not intelligently made. State v. Lukens, 151 Ariz. 502, 729 P.2d 306 (1986). Additionally, the court noted that to thoroughly understand the consequences of his plea agreement, a defendant must be made aware of the restitutionary amount which might be imposed. State v. Phillips, 152 Ariz. 533, 733 P.2d 1116 (1987).

DISCUSSION

In Lukens, the defendant, pursuant to a plea agreement, pled guilty to a reduced charge of theft of property with a value of less than $250. The trial court in accepting the plea mentioned that the defendant could be fined in the amount of $150,000 plus a 37% surcharge. The trial court did not mention restitution. Nevertheless, the trial court, in placing the defendant on probation for three years, ordered her to pay $9,132.65 in restitution.

In reversing the sentence, we noted that a defendant cannot be required to pay restitution in an amouiit exceeding the monetary limits of the statute governing the crime to which she pleads guilty unless she agrees to pay a higher amount.

Such an agreement may be found when 1) a specific dollar amount of restitution is set forth in the plea agreement, 2) a defendant states in court that he agrees to pay a specific dollar amount of restitution, or 3) the defendant pleads guilty after being warned by the trial judge that a specific dollar amount of restitution may be ordered. Only if one of these three statements are found in the record will we conclude that a defendant voluntarily and intelligently agreed to [114]*114pay restitution in an amount exceeding statutorily-prescribed monetary parameters of the crime to which he pled guilty.

151 Ariz. at 505, 729 P.2d at 309.

In Phillips, the defendant pled guilty to the crime of leaving the scene of an accident in which a pedestrian was injured. We stated:

Although we agree that the trial court could order restitution as a proper condition of appellant’s probation, we believe that the trial court erred in imposing restitution of $6,130.65 in light of our recent holding in State v. Lukens, [151 Ariz. 502] 729 P.2d 306 (Ariz.1986).
We do not believe that a defendant can “thoroughly understand” the consequences of his agreement to make restitution if he is unaware of the restitution-ary amount that can be imposed. Knowledge that restitution can be ordered for the victim’s “full economic loss” is insufficient. The defendant must be aware of the specific dollar amounts of restitution that can be imposed before we will find that the defendant voluntarily and intelligently agreed to pay restitution.

152 Ariz. at 534-535, 733 P.2d at 1117-1118.

Later in State v. Crowder, 155 Ariz. 477, 747 P.2d 1176 (1987), we qualified the rule enunciated in Lukens and Phillips:

A defendant is to be informed of “any special conditions regarding sen-tence____” Rule 17.2(b). One can say with relative equanimity that the amount of restitution in Lukens and Phillips was a relevant circumstance to the decision of the respective defendants to waive jury trial and enter a plea. While we do not confine Phillips and Lukens to their facts, we believe that only in such unusual cases is the precise amount of restitution relevant to the decision to enter a plea. Clearly, Lukens and Phillips

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State v. Grijalba
755 P.2d 417 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
755 P.2d 417, 157 Ariz. 112, 9 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 18, 1988 Ariz. LEXIS 74, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-grijalba-ariz-1988.