State v. McGinnis

413 So. 2d 1307
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 16, 1981
Docket81-KA-0995
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 413 So. 2d 1307 (State v. McGinnis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. McGinnis, 413 So. 2d 1307 (La. 1981).

Opinion

413 So.2d 1307 (1981)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
Gary McGINNIS.

No. 81-KA-0995.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

November 16, 1981.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Harry Connick, Dist. Atty., Louise Korns, Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Dwight Doskey, Chris Christofferson, of Orleans Indigent Defender Program, Thomas Ousley, New Orleans, for defendant-appellant.

*1308 KLEES, Justice ad hoc.[*]

The defendant, Gary L. McGinnis, was charged by bill of information with the April 10, 1979 attempted burglary of an inhabited dwelling belonging to one Raymond Walk, in violation of La.R.S. 14:27(62.2). On May 7, 1979, the defendant pled guilty as charged and was sentenced to one year at hard labor. The state subsequently filed a bill alleging that the defendant was a multiple offender. After a hearing, the judge found the defendant to be a fourth felony offender, and vacated the sentence originally imposed. On August 30, 1979, the defendant was sentenced to the minimum term of twenty-years at hard labor pursuant to La.R.S. 15:529.1(A)(3)(a). The defendant appeals arguing one assignment of error.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1

Defense counsel argues that the court erred in allowing the use of an out of state 1976 guilty plea to prove the defendant is a multiple offender, when the record affirmatively showed that the defendant had not been adequately Boykinized before entering that plea. Defendant complains that the three specific Boykin rights were not mentioned in the colloquy between the judge and himself during the 1976 guilty plea, and a written statement of "Defendant Plea of Guilty" executed by the defendant fails to satisfy this Court's Boykin requirements because there is no mention whatsoever of his privilege against self-incrimination. Defendant therefore contends that he was neither properly advised of nor did he knowingly waive his privilege against self-incrimination.

The issue before this Court 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?

In State v. Lewis, 367 So.2d 1155 (La. 1979), this Court 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 affirmatively disclosed that the accused had waived his right to jury trial, his right to confront his accusers, and his privilege against self-incrimination. That holding was predicated on this Court's interpretation of the mandates of federal constitutional law as expressed by the Supreme Court in Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969). State v. Holden, 375 So.2d 1372, 1373 (La.1979). However, this Court re-evaluated its interpretation of what Boykin required in light of the subsequent Supreme Court opinion of United States v. Timmreck, 441 U.S. 780, 99 S.Ct. 2085, 60 L.Ed.2d 634 (1979).

In State v. Holden, supra at 1376, this Court overruled State v. Lewis, supra, insofar as it applied to Louisiana pleas taken on or before December 8, 1971, and non-Louisiana and Federal pleas of guilty utilized as predicate felonies in a multiple bill prosecution. Holden upheld the use of a federal conviction in a multiple offender proceeding even though the state did not affirmatively establish compliance with this Court's three-right articulated waiver rule. State ex rel. Jackson v. Henderson, 260 La. 90, 255 So.2d 85 (1971). Holden testified that he did not recall any person informing him of the consequences of pleading guilty, therefore he argued that since he was not properly Boykinized as to that guilty plea, it could not be used in the multiple offender proceedings. This Court rejected Holden's claim and ruled that the burden is on the *1309 defendant to prove he did not waive his constitutional rights in making the plea:

Accordingly, as to these convictions not governed by Jackson and [State ex rel.] LeBlanc, [v. Henderson, 261 La. 315, 259 So.2d 557] the state is required only to prove the conviction by a plea of guilty with representation by counsel. The defendant has the burden of proving that he did not waive his constitutional rights in making the plea, if the plea was taken subsequent to Boykin's requirement in this regard. Unless the colloquy at the time of the plea of guilty affirmatively shows substantial defect in this regard, the defendant will not be permitted to make any other collateral attack beyond the colloquy upon these otherwise-valid guilty pleas in the enhanced-punishment proceedings.

Since Holden merely did not recall anyone advising him of the consequences of his guilty plea, he failed to meet this burden.

In State v. Bolton, 379 So.2d 722, 723 (La.1979) this Court reiterated the holding in State v. Holden, supra, as follows:

In Holden we held that, when the state intends to use a plea of guilty as a prior conviction in order to enhance punishment under La.R.S. 15:529.1:
* * * * * *
(2) As to non-Louisiana and federal pleas of guilty:
The state may prove the conviction and its date by a certified copy of a minute entry (or an equivalent contemporaneously recorded or executed document) showing the plea and that the accused was represented by counsel. (The state must, of course, prove that the defendant in the plea and the present accused are the same person.)
The defendant has the burden of proving that the plea was involuntary or that (if taken subsequent to Boykin) he did not waive Boykin rights; he may do so in the enhancement proceedings only by the colloquy at the time of the plea of guilty, which must affirmatively show substantial defect in this regard. For any other collateral attack upon the prior plea, the defendant is relegated to any remedy he has in the court which took his plea.

(Emphasis Added)

This line of reasoning has been extended recently in State v. Halsell, 403 So.2d 688 (La.1981), wherein Chief Justice Dixon speaking for the court stated:

"As interpreted by this court, the Boykin decision requires `an express and knowing waiver of at least these three federal constitutional rights.' State ex rel. Jackson v. Henderson, supra, 260 La. at 103, 255 So.2d at 90.
If a defendant is not apprised of the basic triad of rights available to him he may be handicapped in evaluating his chances of success at trial. See State v. Martin, 382 So.2d 933 (La.1980). For this reason, the decision to plead guilty is not deemed an intelligent and understanding choice unless the defendant is informed of the rights which attach at trial.

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Bluebook (online)
413 So. 2d 1307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mcginnis-la-1981.