State v. O'Brien

168 So. 3d 627, 2014 WL 7278281
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 23, 2014
DocketNo. 2014 KA 0899
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 168 So. 3d 627 (State v. O'Brien) 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. O'Brien, 168 So. 3d 627, 2014 WL 7278281 (La. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

KUHN, J.

| .¿Defendant, Benson Harrison O’Brien, III, was originally charged by grand jury indictment with second degree murder, a violation of La. R.S. 14:30.1, and pled not guilty. The State subsequently amended the indictment to charge defendant with manslaughter, a violation of La. R.S. 14:31, and defendant pled guilty to the amended charge. The trial court sentenced defendant to forty years imprisonment at hard [630]*630labor. Defendant now appeals, assigning error to the trial court’s denial of his motion for new trial filed approximately one year after his guilty plea and sentencing. For the following reasons, we conditionally affirm the conviction and sentence and remand for a determination of whether a meaningful inquiry into defendant’s competence at the time of guilty plea is possible and, if so, for an evidentiary hearing and determination on this issue.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Because defendant entered a guilty plea to the amended charge in this case, the facts were not fully developed in the record. At the time of the plea, the parties stipulated to the existence of a factual basis based upon discovery and sentencing discussions. According to the St. Tammany Parish Sheriffs Office affidavit for a search warrant, on May 7, 2012, deputies responded to a medical emergency at a residence in Covington where they observed the body of Bridgette Harveston (the victim) on the ground near a barn. The victim was unresponsive and, after being transported to St. Tammany Parish Hospital, was pronounced deceased. The emergency was reported by defendant’s father, Benson O’Brien, Jr., who went to a neighbor’s residence to call 911 after discovering the victim near the barn entrance, unresponsive with bruises on her face. According to Mr. O’Brien, defendant indicated that he and the victim had an altercation. When Mr. O’Brien and the neighbor returned to the residence, defendant and the victim’s vehicle were no longer there. Later that day, defendant arrived at his attorney’s office in Covington Land was subsequently taken into custody. The next day, an autopsy was conducted and homicide was the concluded cause of death.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

In the sole assignment of error, defendant asserts that the trial court erred by failing to hold a hearing on the issue of his competency to understand the plea he entered on March 13, 2013. Pointing out that he raised this issued in his motion for new trial filed March 12, 2014, defendant maintains that the trial court should have held a hearing, listened to medical testimony regarding his competency and, absent compelling testimony to the contrary, determined that he was incompetent to waive his rights at the time of the guilty plea. Because the issue of sanity or mental capacity to proceed may be raised at any stage of the proceedings even after conviction, where there is the allegation that mental illness prevented a knowing and intelligent waiver, supported by the offer of testimony by medical professionals, defendant asserts, it is error to deny a hearing.

Normally a defendant’s plea of guilty waives all nonjurisdictional defects. State v. Fields, 95-2481 (La.App. 1st Cir.12/20/96), 686 So.2d 107, 108. Thus, since this defendant has pled guilty, a motion for a new trial is inappropriate and should be treated as a motion to withdraw a guilty plea. See State v. Jenkins, 419 So.2d 463, 466 (La.1982).1 However, de[631]*631fendant’s allegations of mental competency cannot be disregarded and will be treated as if presented on a motion to withdraw a plea of guilty. At the time of defendant’s plea, La.C.Cr.P. art. |4559(A) provided that a court “may permit a plea of guilty to be withdrawn at any time before sentence.”2 Likewise, the Louisiana Supreme Court in State v. Lewis, 421 So.2d 224, 225-26 (La.1982), held that a trial court may permit the withdrawal of a guilty plea after sentencing if the court finds that the guilty plea was not entered freely and voluntarily, or if there was an inadequate colloquy advising the defendant of the rights he was waiving by pleading guilty and therefore the guilty plea was constitutionally infirm. There is “no absolute right to withdraw a previously entered plea of guilty.” State v. Barnes, 97-2522 (La.App. 1st Cir.9/25/98), 721 So.2d 923, 925. The withdrawal of a guilty plea is within the discretion of the trial court and is subject to reversal only if that discretion is abused or arbitrarily exercised. See State v. Johnson, 406 So.2d 569, 571 (La.1981).

For a guilty plea to be found valid, there must be a showing that the defendant was informed of and waived his constitutionally guaranteed right to trial by jury, right of confrontation, and right against compulsory self-incrimination. A guilty plea must be entered knowingly and voluntarily. See Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 243, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1712, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969); see also State v. White, 517 So.2d 461, 462-63 (La.App. 1st Cir.1987), writ denied, 521 So.2d 1184 (La.1988). In determining whether the defendant’s plea is knowing and voluntary, the court must not only look to the colloquy concerning the waiver of rights, but also other factors that may have a bearing on the decision. See e.g. State ex rel. LaFleur v. Donnelly, 416 So.2d 82 (La.1982); State v. Galliano, 396 So.2d 1288 (La.1981); State v. Calhoun, 96-0786 (La.5/20/97), 694 So.2d 909. Similarly, in reviewing whether the trial court abused its discretion, courts have | ¡¡looked to the guilty plea colloquy to determine whether the defendant was advised of the consequences of his plea and whether he voluntarily and intelligently waived his rights. What the accused understood is determined in terms of the entire record and not just certain “magic words” used by the trial judge. State v. Strain, 585 So.2d 540, 543 (La.1991). Everything that appears in the record concerning the predicate offense, as well as the trial judge’s opportunity to observe the defendant’s appearance, demeanor and responses in court, should be considered in determining whether or not a knowing and intelligent waiver of rights occurred. State v. Cadiere, 99-0970 (La.App. 1st Cir.2/18/00), 754 So.2d 294, 297, writ denied, 2000-0815 (La.11/13/00), 774 So.2d 971. Factors bearing on the validity of this determination include the age, education, experience, background, competency, and conduct of the accused, as well as the nature, complexity, and seriousness of the charge. State v. Munholland, 34,941 (La.App.2d Cir.10/12/01), 797 So.2d 778, 782, writ denied, 2001-3077 (La.9/13/02), 824 So.2d 1185 (citing Cadiere, 754 So.2d 294).

[632]*632In Louisiana, mental incapacity to proceed exists when, as a result of mental disease or defect, a defendant presently lacks the capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his defense. La.C.Cr.P. art. 641; State v. Nomey, 613 So.2d 157, 161 (La.1993). Louisiana law also imposes a legal presumption that a defendant is sane and competent to proceed. See La. R.S. 15:432. Accordingly, the defendant has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence his incapacity to stand trial. State v. Carmouche, 2001-0405 (La.5/14/02), 872 So.2d 1020, 1041. The issue of a defendant’s mental capacity to proceed shall be determined by the court in a contradictory hearing. La.C.Cr.P. art. 647.

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Bluebook (online)
168 So. 3d 627, 2014 WL 7278281, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-obrien-lactapp-2014.