State v. Pendleton

910 S.W.2d 268, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1557, 1995 WL 519285
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 5, 1995
DocketWD 50448
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 910 S.W.2d 268 (State v. Pendleton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Pendleton, 910 S.W.2d 268, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1557, 1995 WL 519285 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

FENNER, Chief Judge.

Raymond G. Pendleton appeals the denial of his Motion to Set Aside Guilty Plea in the Cole County Circuit Court. Appellant contends that manifest injustice occurred when the motion was denied because he was induced to reject an earlier, more favorable plea agreement by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the actions of the agents were shocking to the principles of fundamental fairness and universal justice, thereby denying appellant his due process rights. In addition to responding to appellant’s arguments, the State of Missouri has filed a motion to dismiss this appeal on the basis that it is out of the time limits set forth in Missouri Rule of Criminal Procedure 24.035.

Appellant was arrested in November 1991 and subsequently charged with three counts of receiving stolen property. Charges of driving while intoxicated, driving while suspended, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana were also pending against appellant at the time. Plea negotiations began between appellant’s trial counsel, David Schmitt, and the Buchanan County Prosecutor. An initial plea agreement was offered to appellant, the terms of which included appellant pleading guilty to two of the felony receiving stolen property charges, with the third to be dismissed, and the prosecutors recommending a cap of a five year sentence on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently. All misdemeanors would be dismissed except for one DWI for which appellant was required to plead guilty, with the recommendation that any sentence run concurrent to any sentence on the felony receiving stolen property charges. Also included as part of the plea offer was the requirement that appellant cooperate fully with the FBI regarding any federal investigation and with Missouri State Highway Patrol and Buchanan County Sheriff deputies about any area of inquiry.

Though recommended by trial counsel, appellant rejected this initial plea agreement. The charges against appellant arose from his involvement in transporting stolen tractor trailers and trailer refrigeration units to a chop shop in Arkansas and a purported “dirty highway patrolman in Texas.” The Arkansas chop shop, however, was under the control of the FBI — a fact allegedly unknown to appellant and his trial counsel during plea negotiations. Appellant claims he rejected the initial plea offer because his life and family were threatened by the “Arkansas people” if he cooperated with federal authorities. Appellant further claims he was contacted by Mark Jessie, an undercover FBI agent at the Arkansas chop shop, wanting to involve him in continued criminal activity while the charges against him were pending. Though it is unclear from the sparse record before us, it appears appellant declined this offer.

Appellant claims that Agent Jessie told him that the Arkansas shop had been raided and that the only way federal authorities could have known about the shop was if appellant told them. Jessie allegedly warned appellant not to cooperate with federal authorities and promised appellant he would begin to send him money owed him for his services. Appellant was able to produce a February 20, 1992, Western Union receipt in the amount of $1,000.00 wired from Harrison, Arkansas to St. Joseph, Missouri. Soon after, appellant canceled a meeting with a local FBI agent and allegedly informed Schmitt of the threats against him. Agent Jessie testified in a deposition in conjunction with the motion to set aside appellant’s guilty plea that he never threatened appellant, though he did wire appellant $1,000.00 to keep appellant from harming a cooperating witness or the their property.

After rejecting the initial plea agreement, appellant was charged with two additional DWI’s. Appellant then accepted a plea offer providing that the appellant plead guilty to two of the three felony receipt of stolen property charges and to the initial DWI charge, but there would be no recommenda *270 tion on sentencing. Though it is not a part of the record before this court, it appears that appellant was sentenced in May 1992 by Judge Patrick Robb to two consecutive six-year sentences on the receiving stolen property counts and a consecutive two year sentence for felony DWI. 1 Appellant claims that at the time of sentencing, he did not know of the FBI’s involvement in the Arkansas chop shop. Appellant further states that he did not inform the sentencing court of the alleged threats and the $1,000.00 payment because he thought Agent Jessie was a criminal and that the court would be unsympathetic about such matters.

Appellant was received by the Missouri Department of Corrections on June 4, 1992, to begin serving the aforementioned sentences. Appellant was then moved to Harrison County, Arkansas, on July 2, 1992, to answer to federal charges resulting from the same transactions that served as the basis for the charges in Missouri. Through discovery in the federal case, appellant claims to have learned sometime in late July or early August that the Arkansas chop shop was operated by the FBI. Appellant subsequently notified his trial counsel, Schmitt, of this development. Despite this new information, appellant made no motion of any sort to overturn his guilty plea until at least 15 months later, on December 8, 1993, when he filed his Motion to Set Aside Guilty Plea under Rule 29.07(d) that is the subject of this appeal. This motion was denied by the circuit court on December 8, 1994.

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A defendant does not have an absolute right to withdraw a guilty plea. State v. Mandel, 837 S.W.2d 571, 573 (Mo.App.1992). Such relief should be granted by a motion court only upon a showing that the relief of withdrawal of the plea is necessary to correct manifest injustice. State v. Hasnan, 806 S.W.2d 54, 55 (Mo.App.1991). In reviewing the denial of a motion to withdraw guilty plea pursuant to Rule 29.07, the reviewing court is to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion or was clearly erroneous. Scroggins v. State, 859 S.W.2d 704, 706 (Mo.App.1993). It is the burden of the defendant to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the motion court erred. Id. at 706-07.

If appellant’s plea of guilty was voluntary and was made with an understanding of the charges against him, there can be no manifest injustice inherent in the plea. Winford v. State, 485 S.W.2d 43, 49 (Mo. banc 1972); Scroggins, 859 S.W.2d at 707. If a defendant is misled or induced to enter a plea of guilty by fraud, mistake, misapprehension, coercion, duress or fear, he or she should he permitted to withdraw the plea. Latham v. State, 439 S.W.2d 737, 739 (Mo.1969); Scroggins, 859 S.W.2d at 707. “Unawareness of certain facts at the time of a plea does not necessarily render the plea unintelligent or involuntary.” Id.; State v. Nielsen, 547 S.W.2d 153, 161 (Mo.App.1977).

II.

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910 S.W.2d 268, 1995 Mo. App. LEXIS 1557, 1995 WL 519285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pendleton-moctapp-1995.