State v. R.A.L.

69 So. 3d 704
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 29, 2011
DocketNo. 10-1475
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 69 So. 3d 704 (State v. R.A.L.) 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. R.A.L., 69 So. 3d 704 (La. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

PICKETT, Judge.

\,FACTS

On January 24, 2008, a grand jury returned a bill of indictment charging the defendant, R.A.L., with aggravated rape, a violation of La.R.S. 14:42, and aggravated incest, a violation of La. R.S. 14:78.1.

On March 27, 2009, the defendant filed a pro se motion asking that he be granted a new attorney. Following a hearing on April 9, 2009, the court granted that motion.

On March 1 and 2, 2010, the trial court heard several pre-trial motions including a Motion to Exclude Evidence of Lustful Disposition at which the defendant’s oldest daughter, not the victim, testified. The court denied the defendant’s motion.

Later that same day, the defendant entered an Alford plea to a reduced charge of forcible rape and to aggravated incest. He received an agreed-upon sentence of twenty-five years on each count. A written plea agreement, signed by the defendant, as well as a written sex-offender registry notification, also signed by the defendant, were filed into the record in open court at the time the plea was taken.

On March 29, 2010, the defendant filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. A hearing was held on May 24, 2010, and the court ordered counsel to submit briefs. The court issued written reasons for judgment on July 26, 2010, and specifically found the defendant’s guilty plea was knowing and voluntary.

The defendant appeals from the trial court’s denial of his Motion to Withdraw Guilty Plea, assigning six assignments of error.

| ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR
1. Appellant’s Alford pleas were not knowingly and intelligently entered and are thus constitutionally infirm.
2. The plea agreement offered by the state and entered into in this case was invalid and unenforceable at it called for the imposition of a constitutionally excessive sentence for aggravated incest.
3. The trial court erred in advising Appellant of the incorrect penalty range for the offense of aggravated incest.
4. The trial court erred in failing to advise Appellant of the sex offender registration and notification requirements prior to the acceptance of his best interest pleas.
[706]*7065. The trial court erred in denying Appellant’s Motion to Withdraw Guilty Plea.
6. The double jeopardy clause of both the state and federal constitutions were violated when punishment was imposed upon Appellant for both aggravated incest and the “prohibited act” of forcible rape from the same course of criminal conduct.

ERRORS PATENT

In accordance with La. Code Crim. P. art. 920, all appeals are reviewed by this court for errors patent on the face of the record. After reviewing the record we find one error patent regarding the sentence for aggravated incest. Because it is also an assigned error, it will be discussed below.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERRORS ONE THROUGH FIVE

The defendant’s first five assignments of error are related as they all pertain to whether his guilty pleas were knowingly and intelligently entered. The defendant’s pleas were entered pursuant to a plea bargain between the state and the defendant. The state agreed to reduce the charge of aggravated rape, which carried a life sentence, to the charge of forcible rape with an agreed-upon sentence of twenty-five years. The defendant also agreed to plead guilty to the offense of aggravated incest | awith a twenty-five year sentence that would be concurrent to the sentence for forcible rape. This was a plea pursuant to North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970), wherein R.A.L. maintained his innocence as to the charges but agreed that entering the plea was in his best interest considering the evidence the state would produce against him and the possible consequences of being found guilty of the offenses charged. R.A.L. signed a Plea of Guilty and Waiver of Rights form, which set forth not only the rights he was waiving by pleading guilty but also the terms of the plea and also signed a Sex Offender Notification form. Both were filed in the record in open court at the time the plea was taken. It is clear from a review of the record that the Sex Offender Notification form was provided to the defendant after the court had accepted the pleas of guilty and imposed the agreed-upon sentences, but during the same proceeding. Neither the defendant nor his attorneys voiced any objection to the court as to the timeliness of the signing or filing of the Sex Offender Notification form.

Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure Article 559(A) provides that a court “may permit a plea of guilty to be withdrawn at any time before sentence.” A trial court may only set aside a guilty plea after sentencing when the facts surrounding the guilty plea render it constitutionally infirm. State v. Smith, 406 So.2d 1314 (La.1981), State v. Rios, 95-961 (La.App. 3 Cir. 3/6/96), 670 So.2d 708; State v. Filer, 99-626 (La.App. 3 Cir. 9/20/00), 771 So.2d 700, writ denied, 00-2918 (La.9/21/01), 797 So.2d 63. The trial court is vested with broad discretion in determining whether or not to allow the withdrawal of a guilty plea, and its decision will be reversed only if that discretion is abused or arbitrarily exercised. State v. D.G.H., 07-524 (La.App. 3 Cir. 10/31/07), 969 So.2d 1254.

LThe defendant sets forth two separate arguments that he claims renders the guilty pleas constitutionally infirm. The first is that he was misinformed by his attorney, the prosecutor, and the court of the correct sentencing range for the offense of aggravated incest. At the time the guilty plea was entered, the possible penalty for aggravated incest was a minimum of twenty-five years and a maximum [707]*707of ninety-nine years with at least twenty-five years to be served without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence. There is no question that this sentencing range is inapplicable to the case before us. The correct sentencing range is that which was in effect at the time of the commission of the crime, between January 1,2000, and December 31, 2003. At the time of the commission of the crime the penalty for aggravated incest was significantly less; La.R.S. 14:78.1(D) provided that “A person convicted of aggravated incest shall be fined an amount not to exceed fifty thousand dollars, or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for a term not less than five years nor more than twenty years, or both.” There were no restrictions on parole eligibility contained in the statute.

The defendant argues that his guilty plea is constitutionally infirm because the plea agreement called for the imposition of a sentence that exceeded the possible maximum sentence provided at law. He argues that because that portion of the plea agreement which provides for a twenty-five year hard labor sentence on the aggravated incest charge cannot be enforced, the law requires the plea, conviction and sentence to be vacated. We disagree.

In State v. Alexander, 95-1099 (La.App. 3 Cir. 12/26/96), 687 So.2d 527, this court addressed the validity of a guilty plea which included a plea bargain sentence which exceeded the maximum legal sentence. There the court stated:

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Bluebook (online)
69 So. 3d 704, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ral-lactapp-2011.