State v. Pickett

746 So. 2d 185, 1999 WL 973625
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 26, 1999
Docket99-KA-532
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 746 So. 2d 185 (State v. Pickett) 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. Pickett, 746 So. 2d 185, 1999 WL 973625 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

746 So.2d 185 (1999)

STATE of Louisiana
v.
William PICKETT (Sentenced as "William R. Pickett").

No. 99-KA-532.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fifth Circuit.

October 26, 1999.

*186 Joel Levy, Marrero, Louisiana, Attorney for Defendant-Appellant, William R. Pickett.

Paul D. Connick, Jr., District Attorney, Rebecca J. Becker, Terry Boudreaux, Greg Kennedy, Ron Austin, Assistant District Attorneys, Gretna, Louisiana, for Appellee, the State of Louisiana.

Court composed of Judges H. CHARLES GAUDIN, CHARLES GRISBAUM, Jr. and SUSAN M. CHEHARDY.

CHEHARDY, Judge.

William R. Pickett appeals his conviction of third-offense DWI on the basis that the two prior convictions used as predicates for this one are invalid. We affirm the conviction, for the reasons that follow.

On February 6, 1998 Pickett was charged with violation of La. R.S. 14:98, driving while intoxicated (DWI), third offense. Defendant filed a motion to quash the bill of information on the ground that the predicate convictions were invalid because he did not have the assistance of counsel during one of the predicate convictions and the record does not affirmatively show his guilty pleas were intelligent and voluntary. The trial court denied the motion to quash and the defendant sought writs, which were denied. State v. Pickett, 99-K-174 (La.App. 5 Cir. 2/25/99).

On March 8, 1999, defendant was allowed to re-urge his motion to quash. The trial judge again denied the motion to quash and defendant objected. After the trial court denied his motion, the defendant withdrew his plea of not guilty and entered a plea of guilty to third offense driving while intoxicated ("DWI") under La.C.Cr.P. art 893, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to quash under State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La. 1976).

In exchange for his guilty plea, the State agreed to dismiss an outstanding misdemeanor charge of illegal lane usage. After engaging the defendant in a Boykin colloquy, the trial judge accepted his guilty plea to third offense DWI. The trial judge sentenced defendant to one year imprisonment, with six months to be served on home incarceration without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, and the remaining six months suspended. He was ordered to pay a fine of $300.00, a commissioner's fee of $100.00, and court costs. He was also ordered to complete an outpatient alcohol treatment plan, to refrain from consuming alcoholic beverages, to complete an approved driver safety course, and to install a vehicle interlock breath analyzer system in his vehicle, should his driving privileges be reinstated. He was placed on one year of active probation and ordered to pay a monthly probation supervision fee of $20.00. Lastly, the vehicle that he was driving at the time of his arrest for third offense DWI was forfeited and sold at auction.

The bill of information charging the defendant with third offense DWI alleges that he had previously been convicted of driving while intoxicated on January 24, 1994 in Jefferson Parish Second Parish Court, docket number 5554438, and on *187 February 1, 1995 in Second Parish Court, docket number 510060.[1]

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1
The trial court erred in denying the Motion to Quash the bill of information charging the defendant with third offense DWI (driving while intoxicated).

Defendant complains that the trial judge improperly denied his motion to quash the bill of information because neither his 1994 nor his 1995 predicate DWI conviction can be used to enhance a subsequent offense.

With respect to his 1994 guilty plea, the defendant contends he was not represented by counsel at the guilty plea proceeding and that his constitutional rights were not validly waived because the trial judge failed to make any inquiries into defendant's background or ability to understand the proceedings. Defendant further claims that he was not informed of his right to counsel at all stages of the proceedings, of the sentencing exposure for his offense, or of the penalties for a subsequent DWI conviction.

With respect to his 1995 guilty plea, although defendant was represented by counsel, he contends that his constitutional rights were not validly waived because he was not informed by the trial judge of the sentencing exposure for his offense or the penalties for a subsequent DWI conviction.

A presumption of regularity attaches to prior convictions in multiple-offender DWI cases and the burden is on the defendant to show a constitutional deficiency in the judgment once the State proves the existence of the conviction. State v. Duane Carlos, 98-1366 (La.7/7/99), 738 So.2d 556, n. 5. Carlos extended the burden-shifting principles of State v. Shelton, 621 So.2d 769 (La.1993),[2] to the multiple offender portions of the DWI statute:

[W]hen a defendant denies the allegations contained in the bill of information in a habitual offender proceeding, the burden is on the State to prove the existence of the prior guilty pleas and that the defendant was represented by counsel when they were taken.... If the State meets this initial burden, the defendant must produce affirmative evidence showing an infringement of his rights or a procedural irregularity in the taking of the plea.... If the defendant carries this burden, then the burden reverts to the State to prove the constitutionality of the plea.... The State will meet this burden by producing a "perfect" transcript of the guilty plea colloquy.... Anything less than a "perfect" transcript, such as a guilty plea form or minute entry, will require the trial judge to weigh the evidence submitted by both sides and determine whether the defendant's Boykin rights were prejudiced. [Citations and footnotes omitted.]

Carlos, 738 So.2d at 559.

A perfect transcript reflects a voluntary, informed, and articulated waiver of the three specific rights mentioned in Boykin.[3]Carlos, p. 5, n. 4.

*188 In the present case, the State filed a bill of information against defendant alleging that he had two prior DWI convictions. Defendant filed a motion to quash the bill of information alleging that his constitutional rights were violated. Then, at a hearing on the motion to quash on March 8, 1999, the transcripts of both prior guilty plea proceedings were introduced into evidence.

The transcripts of the prior guilty plea proceedings show that relator was informed of his right to counsel, his right to avoid self-incrimination, his right to face his accusers, and his right to a trial. Thus, it appears that the State met both burdens of proof delineated by the Louisiana Supreme Court in Carlos.

In this case, the State sought to enhance defendant's underlying DWI offense to third offense DWI using evidence of two prior DWI convictions. Importantly, the State presented evidence that defendant had pleaded guilty to two previous DWI offenses in Second Parish Court before the same trial judge.

Relative to his 1994 guilty plea, defendant argues that it cannot be used to enhance a subsequent offense because he was not represented by counsel. He contends that his 1994 plea is defective because his right to counsel was not validly waived because the trial judge failed to make any inquiries into defendant's background or ability to understand the proceedings and that he was not informed of his right to counsel at all stages of the proceedings.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
746 So. 2d 185, 1999 WL 973625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-pickett-lactapp-1999.