State v. Secord

88 P.3d 587, 207 Ariz. 517
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedMay 11, 2004
Docket2 CA-CR 2002-0093
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 88 P.3d 587 (State v. Secord) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Secord, 88 P.3d 587, 207 Ariz. 517 (Ark. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinions

OPINION

ESPINOSA, Chief Judge.

¶ 1 A jury found appellant David Douglas Secord guilty of aggravated driving under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI) while his driver’s license was suspended, and the trial court placed him on five years’ probation. On appeal, Secord argues the trial court erred in several evidentiary rulings and in denying his motion to compel the state to reinstate a plea offer. Because we conclude the state may, in appropriate circumstances, properly condition a plea on a defendant’s foregoing disclosure of nonexculpatory evidence, and because Secord’s evidentiary challenges lack merit, we affirm.

Facts and Procedural Background

¶ 2 On September 22, 1998, Deputy Dawn Barkman stopped a vehicle for exceeding the speed limit and driving briefly onto the dirt shoulder of a road. When Barkman approached the driver, Secord, she smelled an intoxicant near the driver’s window. Deputies Woolridge and Hill arrived at the scene and investigated whether Secord had been driving while under the influence of alcohol. During that investigation, Hill conducted three field sobriety tests, including a horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN) test, a “one-leg stand” test, and a “walk-and-tum” test. Hill observed Secord’s gait, appearance, and speech as he performed the tests. Hill also questioned Secord about his consumption of intoxicants. At the end of the investigation, Hill wrote a report about his observations, noting that he had used a video camera to record his investigation.

[520]*520¶ 3 The state indicted Secord on one count each of aggravated DUI and aggravated driving with an alcohol concentration (AC) level of .10 or more, class four felonies.1 The state later offered to permit Secord to plead guilty to endangerment, a class six felony, and DUI with one prior conviction, a class one misdemeanor. Defense counsel requested that he be provided the police videotape before advising Secord whether he should accept the offer. In response to that request, the state withdrew the plea offer, provided a copy of the videotape to Secord, and transferred the case to a “trial team.”

¶ 4 Secord nevertheless filed with the trial court a request for a change-of-plea hearing, saying he wanted to accept the plea offer and noting the state might oppose the request because he had asked for and had received a copy of the videotape. He argued he was “entitled to review th[e] videotape” under State v. Draper, 162 Ariz. 433, 784 P.2d 259 (1989).2 The state, indeed, opposed Secord’s request to accept the plea offer but offered him a similar agreement that would have required him to serve more time in jail. Following a hearing, the trial court rejected Secord’s argument that he had possessed a due process right to review the videotape before deciding whether to accept the original plea offer.3 Secord declined the second plea offer, and a jury later found him guilty.

Conditional Plea Offer

¶ 5 Secord argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to compel the state to reinstate its original plea offer, asserting that the prosecutor violated Secord’s right to due process by conditioning the offer on his foregoing disclosure of the videotape of his DUI investigation. The state responds that its broad discretion in charging defendants and negotiating plea agreements entitled it to withdraw the plea offer. In general, we defer to a trial court’s findings of fact but review de novo its conclusions of law. State v. Lucas, 199 Ariz. 366, 18 P.3d 160 (App.2001).

¶ 6 “It is well settled that criminal defendants have no constitutional right to a plea agreement and the state is not required to offer one.” State v. McKinney, 185 Ariz. 567, 575, 917 P.2d 1214, 1222 (1996). Moreover, the state may refuse to plea bargain so long as it has “some valid reason” and no invidious discrimination is involved. State v. Martin, 139 Ariz. 466, 481, 679 P.2d 489, 504 (1984). When the state does offer a plea agreement, it is free to include such conditions and terms as it deems appropriate, even harsh or coercive ones, so long as the defendant is free to accept or reject the offer. State v. Morse, 127 Ariz. 25, 617 P.2d 1141 (1980); State v. McInelly, 146 Ariz. 161, 704 P.2d 291 (App.1985); see also State v. Felix, 153 Ariz. 417, 737 P.2d 393 (App.1986).

¶ 7 In Draper, our supreme court held that a condition in a plea offer that prevented the defendant from interviewing a victim' — and thereby discovering obviously relevant evidence — did not necessarily violate due process or run counter to public policy.4 Instead, the court looked to whether the defendant’s acceptance of the plea offer could [521]*521nevertheless be considered to have been voluntary and intelligent and remanded the case for a determination of that issue. More recently, in United States v. Ruiz, 536 U.S. 622, 122 S.Ct. 2450, 153 L.Ed.2d 586 (2002), the United States Supreme Court addressed a similar situation. There, the prosecution’s proposed plea agreement offered the defendant a recommendation for a reduced sentence in exchange for her waiving her right to receive material impeachment evidence about informants and other witnesses as well as evidence supporting any affirmative defense she might assert at trial. The Court held that the plea offer did not violate the Constitution, stating that “the need for this information is more closely related to the fairness of a trial than to the voluntariness of the plea.” Id. at 633, 122 S.Ct. at 2457, 153 L.Ed.2d at 597.

¶8 Secord contends that the videotape was “critical evidence” necessary to his decision whether to accept the plea offer, a theory embraced by our dissenting colleague. It is clear, however, that the Constitution does not require that a defendant have “complete knowledge” of the state’s potential case against him or her and permits a trial court to accept a guilty plea despite “various forms of misapprehension under which a defendant might labor.”5 Id. at 630, 122 S.Ct. at 2456, 153 L.Ed.2d at 596; see Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 25 L.Ed.2d 747 (1970) (intelligent and voluntary guilty plea does not require that defendant have no misapprehension about strength and quality of prosecution’s case); see also Weatherford v. Bursey, 429 U.S. 545, 559, 97 S.Ct. 837, 846, 51 L.Ed.2d 30, 42 (1977) (“There is no general constitutional right to discovery in a criminal case.”).

¶ 9 It is equally clear that Secord had adequate information on which to “assess the strength of the state’s case,” Draper, 162 Ariz. at 437, 784 P.2d at 263, and to ground a sufficiently knowing and voluntary decision to either accept or reject the state’s plea offer. He had been charged with one count each of aggravated DUI in violation of A.R.S. § 28-1381

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Bluebook (online)
88 P.3d 587, 207 Ariz. 517, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-secord-arizctapp-2004.