State v. Holden

375 So. 2d 1372
Supreme Court of Louisiana·Decided October 8, 1979·No. 64265·Published·Cited by 77 cases

Opinion

375 So.2d 1372 (1979)

STATE of Louisiana, Appellee,
v.
Louis C. HOLDEN, Appellant.

No. 64265.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

October 8, 1979.

*1373 John M. Lawrence, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry F. Connick, Dist. Atty., Robert T. Myers, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

TATE, Justice.

The defendant was charged with and convicted of the theft of merchandise valued at $131.90, in violation of La.R.S. 14:67, a felony punishable by imprisonment with or without hard labor for two years. Upon his conviction, he was charged under La.R.S. 15:529.1 as a multiple offender; upon conviction as a fourth offender, he was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment at hard labor.

The defendant presents eight assignments of error for our review. Most of the issues thereby posed involve either the application of well-settled principles or a decision based upon the peculiar facts of the present prosecution.[1] However, an issue posed by Assignment No. 8 presents a recurring problem which this court must address.

This issue concerns the use in multiple-offender proceedings of a conviction by a plea of guilty from a non-Louisiana jurisdiction: If objected to on the basis that the state did not prove that the plea of guilty was taken in compliance with Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969), what is the burden of the state and, also, to what extent will technical non-compliance with Boykin requirements prevent the use of this conviction to enhance the Louisiana punishment of the defendant as a multiple offender?

I.

The issue as thus posed is an aftermath of our decision in State v. Lewis, 367 So.2d 1155 (La.1979). There, we held that a 1970 guilty plea in a Louisiana court could not be used (over objection) to enhance punishment as a multiple offender, unless the minutes or transcript of the plea of guilty affirmatively disclosed that the accused had waived his right to jury trial, his right to confront his accusers, and his privilege against self-incrimination. We did so in presumed compliance with the mandates of federal constitutional law as expressed by Boykin.

Boykin had invalidated a state conviction, on direct attack from the conviction, on the basis that even an otherwise voluntary plea was not made with a full understanding of its consequences unless the accused made a knowing waiver of at least these three constitutional *1374 rights. In reaching this conclusion, 395 U.S. 243, 89 S.Ct. 1712, the court in Boykin constitutionalized the requirements of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 as set forth in McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 89 S.Ct. 1166, 22 L.Ed.2d 418 (1969). (McCarthy, again, concerned a direct appeal from a federal conviction.)

Boykin and McCarthy had concerned direct attacks on the convictions through the appellate process and, ultimately, certiorari to the United States Supreme Court to review the affirmance of the convictions. In Lewis, a majority of this court held, not illogically, that if on its face a plea of guilty was not knowing under Boykin-McCarthy because it did not affirmatively disclose the waiver of the constitutional rights, likewise it could be collaterally attacked in an enhancement proceeding as invalid for the same reason.

Lewis was decided on January 29, 1979. However, on May 21, 1979, the United States Supreme Court decided that a plea of guilty which failed to comply with the formal requirements of Rule 11 could not be collaterally attacked solely on that basis (even though subject to invalidation for such reason on direct attack). United States v. Timmreck, ___ U.S. ___, 99 S.Ct. 2085, 60 L.Ed.2d 634 (1979).

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11 requires the court to address the accused personally and ascertain from him the waiver of those rights listed by Boykin. Rule 11(c)(3). In Timmreck, the trial court had failed to inform the accused of the minimum parole term consequent upon his plea of guilty, as required by Rule 11(c)(1) (1975). While waiver of the Boykin-listed constitutional rights arguably presents a more fundamental deficiency, we think that, at the least, Timmreck indicates that, in a collateral attack upon a federal guilty plea in an enhanced-punishment proceeding, the burden is upon the accused to show that the plea was taken without a waiver of the Boykin-listed rights.

In short, in Lewis we believed ourselves bound by federal constitutional law to consider a plea of guilty as unknowing unless the record affirmatively showed it had been taken in compliance with Boykin. However, in the post-Lewis decision of Timmreck the United States Supreme Court has indicated that a plea of guilty may not be considered invalid for purposes of collateral attack simply because of formal defect in the taking of the plea—failure of the judge to expressly give certain advice in the Timmreck case—in the absence of a showing of special prejudice to the defendant.

Thus, in our view federal constitutional law does not require us, on collateral attack, to consider a plea as unknowingly made simply because the record does not affirmatively show waiver of Boykin-listed rights. Accordingly, Lewis is to that extent overruled.

II.

A deduction from Timmreck, including its indication that a defendant must show special prejudice in order to mount an attack as to a plea deficient in some formal respect, is that upon collateral attack the accused has the affirmative burden of showing that he was in fact not advised, either by the court or through his counsel, of the particular consequences of his plea that were not touched upon in an otherwise sufficient colloquy.

This is particularly pertinent with regard to the present federal conviction for possession of stolen mail in the amount of $122, which was used to enhance the defendant's sentence in the present case. The record of the appeal shows that the federal conviction was proved by a certified copy of the indictment and minute entries indicating the defendant's plea. His own testimony indicates his identity with the person shown to be convicted in federal court in 1973.

However, the defendant had taken the stand to say that he did not recall any lawyer or other person informing him of the consequences of his plea of guilty. If *1375 the state is under the burden of showing adequate Boykin ization to support the validity of the plea, the defendant's conviction as a fourth[2] offender must be set aside and the case remanded for further proceedings at which the state might seek to introduce the Boykin (i. e., Rule 11) colloquy at which the federal guilty plea was taken.[3]

Nevertheless, because under our interpretation of Timmreck the burden is upon the defendant in his collateral attack upon a guilty plea to show its deficiency, we hold that for present purposes the proof of the federal conviction is adequate for

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State v. Holden, 375 So. 2d 1372 (La. 1979).

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