State v. Marra

387 A.2d 550, 174 Conn. 338, 1978 Conn. LEXIS 838
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedMarch 7, 1978
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 387 A.2d 550 (State v. Marra) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Marra, 387 A.2d 550, 174 Conn. 338, 1978 Conn. LEXIS 838 (Colo. 1978).

Opinions

Loiselle, J.

The defendant pleaded guilty to the crime of conspiracy to commit larceny in the first degree in violation of §§ 53a-48 and 53a-122 of the G-eneral Statutes and to a second count of larceny in the first degree in violation of § 53a-122 of the [340]*340General Statutes. Prior to sentencing, the defendant filed a motion to allow him to withdraw his pleas of guilty to both counts, claiming that they were not entered voluntarily and intelligently. The motion was denied and the court sentenced him on both counts. The sole issue on appeal is whether the court erred in refusing to allow the defendant to withdraw his pleas of guilty.

In order for a plea of guilty to be constitutionally valid, the record must affirmatively disclose that the defendant entered the plea voluntarily and intelligently. Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242, 89 S. Ct. 1709, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274; Blue v. Robinson, 173 Conn. 360, 373, 377 A.2d 1108; Consiglio v. Warden, 160 Conn. 151, 162, 276 A.2d 773. The plea must be supported by a factual basis. State v. Battle, 170 Conn. 469, 473, 365 A.2d 1100. Such a factual basis is absent when the recited facts reveal less than all the elements of the crime charged. Id., 472. Finally, “because a guilty plea is an admission of all the elements of a formal criminal charge, it cannot be truly voluntary unless the defendant possesses an understanding of the law in relation to the facts.” McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 466, 89 S. Ct. 1166, 22 L. Ed. 2d 418. Unless the defendant has had real notice of the nature of the charge against him, the plea cannot constitute an intelligent admission. Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 637, 645, 96 S. Ct. 2253, 49 L. Ed. 2d 108. “[I]f a defendant’s guilty plea is not equally voluntary and knowing, it has been obtained in violation of due process and is therefore void.” State v. Battle, supra, 473.

In the present case, the court questioned the defendant as to the voluntariness of his pleas. To [341]*341the court’s questions as to whether he was satisfied with the advice and assistance of counsel, and whether he understood that he was giving up certain constitutional rights, including the right to trial, the right to cross-examine and confront his accusers, and the privilege against self-incrimination, the defendant answered in the affirmative. He denied that any threats, force or duress had induced him to enter his pleas, and he expressed understanding that those pleas could be withdrawn only with the court’s permission, that the court was not hound by any recommendations made by the state’s attorney, and that both offenses to which he pleaded were class B felonies carrying a maximum penalty of twenty years.

The defendant, however, claims that the court erred in denying his motion to withdraw the pleas, urging that the factual basis to which he assented at the time of the pleas was insufficient to render his pleas intelligent and voluntary. The findings reveal that prior to acceptance of the pleas, the assistant state’s attorney recited a series of facts underlying the charges. Included in this recitation was the fact that “[tjhrough Blonder and Kernozek [codefendants] it was arranged that Marra would come up (from Bridgeport) and steal Park’s car. Marra did come up and steal the car. . . . The vehicle was found in Marra’s driveway in Bridgeport.” To explain the findings more fully, the evidence printed in the appendix to the state’s brief may he examined. State v. Memoli, 159 Conn. 433, 435, 270 A.2d 543; Quednau v. Langrish, 144 Conn. 706, 711, 137 A.2d 544; see also Practice Book §§ 628G, 628H. The appendix, including segments of the transcript of the lower court proceedings, reveals that Marra, along with another [342]*342codefendant, came for the car. The keys had been left in the car, which was pointed out to them by Parks, the owner. After they took the car, the police were notified that it had been stolen.

General Statutes § 53a-119 defines larceny as occurring “when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner.” The statute clearly requires that the taking be wrongful, accompanied by the requisite felonious intent. Although the present statute has broadened the scope of larceny,1 the element of intent has been retained from the prior statute2 and case law. Larceny continues to require “the existence of a felonious intent in the taker to deprive the owner of it permanently.” State v. Banet, 140 Conn. 118, 122, 98 A.2d 530. The facts on record fail to disclose such an intent. Even were the state to prove all such facts, a conviction for larceny could not stand, for, where property is taken with the knowing consent of the owner, larceny has not been committed. State v. Huot, 170 Conn. 463, 467-68, 365 A.2d 1144; State v. Banet, supra.

The state argues that since the defendant failed to attack the findings and conclusions of the court which denied his motion to withdraw his pleas, those pleas must stand. That, however, is not the case. In denying the defendant’s motion, the court concluded only that the pleas had been voluntarily entered. The court did not conclude that the pleas were intelligently made with a full understanding [343]*343of the nature of the charges and the consequence of the pleas. If the pleas entered were not both voluntary and intelligent, they are invalid as violative of due process. State v. Battle, supra. Further, even had the court concluded that the pleas were intelligently entered, the conclusion would have to fall as legally and logically inconsistent with the facts found. State ex rel. Golembeske v. White, 168 Conn. 278, 280, 362 A.2d 1354; Testone v. Allstate Ins. Co., 165 Conn. 126, 133, 328 A.2d 686. The facts found by the court essentially reiterate what transpired in court at the time the defendant entered his pleas. The defendant does not dispute those occurrences nor the findings of fact found by the court. The defendant finds issue only in the fact that the court denied his motion to withdraw his pleas and in its determination that the prior proceedings in which the pleas were accepted provided sufficient basis for a valid plea of guilty.

The prior proceedings were inadequate to establish a valid plea.

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Bluebook (online)
387 A.2d 550, 174 Conn. 338, 1978 Conn. LEXIS 838, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-marra-conn-1978.