State v. Silveira

2015 UT App 290, 364 P.3d 71, 801 Utah Adv. Rep. 33, 2015 Utah App. LEXIS 309, 2015 WL 7873638
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedDecember 3, 2015
Docket20141107-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 2015 UT App 290 (State v. Silveira) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Silveira, 2015 UT App 290, 364 P.3d 71, 801 Utah Adv. Rep. 33, 2015 Utah App. LEXIS 309, 2015 WL 7873638 (Utah Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

Memorandum Decision

ORME, Judge:

T1 Appellant Cameron Silveira (Defendant) pled guilty to attempted manslaughter and possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person, each a third degree felony, and obstruction of justice, a second degree felony. See Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-5-205, 76-4-102(1)(e), - 76-10-5083, - 76-8-806(8)(a) (LexisNexis 2012 & Supp. 2014). As summarized by the district court, each count included a dangerous-weapon enhancement under the plea agreement. See id. § 76-3-208.8(2) (LexisNexis 2012). He now appeals his sentence for those crimes. We affirm.

12 In August 2010, Defendant shot his brother in the head,. The brother survwed Defendant was initially charged with one count of attempted murder, with a dangerous-weapon enhancement; two counts of obstruction of justice; two counts of witness tampering; and one count of possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person. At Defendant's preliminary hearing, the brother refused to testify. The district court had the brother held as a material witness and continued the preliminary hearing. Over the course of the next four months, the preliminary hearing was continued several more times, and 'the brother, who continued to refuse to testify, remained in jail as a material witness.

T3 In April 2011, Defendant and the State reached a plea agreement under which Defendant pled guilty to attempted manslaugh— ter, obstruction of justice, and possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person, all with dangerous-weapon enhancements. The State, in return, agreed to seek dismissal of the remaining charges, recommend eredit for time served, and recommend a particular prison sentence. The district court accepted the pleas, finding that they were made freely and voluntarily and that Defendant under *73 stood the ramifications the pleas could have on sentencing. The court then turned its attention to. sentencing, explaining to Defendant that he had a right to be sentenced in not less than two days and not more than forty-five days. See Utah R. Crim. P. 22(a). Defendant waived the time for sentencing, preferring to be sentenced forthwith, and the district court imposed the sentence that the State had agreed to recommend and did, in fact, recommend. >

4 Before announcing sentence, the district court specnfically explained to Defendant that if he waived the time for sentencing, he would "never have an opportunity to file" "a motion to attempt to withdraw [his] guilty pleas in this case." Defendant's counsel at the time further explained to him, "That just means that you can't take this back, if he sentences you now." Defendant's response was, "Then we have nothing to worry about, then transport me." Rather than accept Defendant's invitation to immediately tr ansport him to prison, the district court took the time to "hear from counsel and the defendant." At that point, defense counsel explained the cireumstances surrounding the charged conduct: Defendant and his brother were in a heated argument, and Defendant had no intention of hurting his brother. He claimed that Defendant accepted responsibility for his actions and felt remorse for his conduct. These points were driven home when Defendant directly addressed the court, reiterating his remorse and lack of intent in hurtmg his brother.

5 Despite the opportunity Defendant had to address the court and explain any potentially mitigating factors, he now appeals, arguing that he was not advised "that he had the right to have his brother (the victim) testify at the sentencing hearing." He also argues, with the help of new counsel on appeal, that his prior counsel was ineffective for failing to explain Defendant's right to present mitigating evidence at sentencing and for failing to affirmatively request that Defendant be afforded his right to do so. Defendant acknowledges that neither of these alleged errors was preserved for appeal, and he therefore seeks our review under the plain-error and ineffective-assistance-of-counsel doctrines, as well as under rule 22 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure. See State v. Weaver, 2005 UT 49, ¶ 18, 122 P.3d 566; Utah R. Crim. P. 22(e).

16 We first consider whether the district court plainly erred by failing to explicitly inform Defendant that he had a right to have his brother testify at sentencing, To succeed on a claim of plain error,

the appellant must show the following: () An error exists; (#) the error should have been obvious to the trial court; and (#) the error is harmful, i.e., absent the error, there is a reasonable likelihood of a more favorable outcome for the appellant, or phrased differently, our confidence in the [outcome of the proceeding] is undermined.

State v. Dunn, 850 P.2d 1201 1208-09 (Utah 1993). In Defendant's view, an error occurred when the district court accepted Defendant's waiver of the time for sentencing without informing Defendant "that he had the right to have witnesses speak in m1t1ga~ tion of his sentence."

T7 Defendant clearly had a nght to allocution. See Utah R. Crim. P. 22(a); State v. Wanosik, 2003 UT 46, ¶ 23, 79 P.3d 937 (1nd1cat1ng that the sentencing court must "affirmatively provide the defense an opportunity to address the court and present reasonably reliable and relevant information in the nutlgatlon‘ of a sentence" and that "it is the court which is responsible for raising the matter"). But what is notably missing 'from Defendant's brief is reference to any statute, case, or rule suggesting that the conduct of the district court did not satisfy the alloeution requirement. At sentencing, the district court indicated that it would hear from Defendant and his counsel, and then it did so. Considering that even "[a] simple verbal invitation or question will suffice" to meet the court's burden of affirmatively providing Defendant the right to allocute, see Wanosik, 2003 UT 46, ¶ 23, 79 P.3d 937, the district court's in-court invitation to hear from Defendant and his counsel was sufficient, especially where both then addresséd the court.

[ 8 As to Defendant's more particular challenge, that the district court should have informed him of his rights "before obtaining the rule 22(@a) waiver," we are unconvinced. *74 As Defendant himself recognizes, "Importantly, the court must ensure that the defendant is afforded these rights at the time of sentencing." (Defendant's emphasis omitted; our emphasis added.) Indeed, we have found no authority that requires a sentencing court, before accepting a waiver of the time for sentencing, to advise a defendant of his right to allocution or to present mitigating evidence from third parties at the time of sentencing, Thus, because the district court invited and accepted statements from both Defendant and his counsel, and because there is no requirement that a sentencing court advise a defendant of the right to allo-cution before a sentencing hearing, there was no error. Because there was no error, we need not consider the other components of plain-error review. See Dunn, 350 P.2d at 1209 ("If any one of these requirements is not met, plain error is not established.") 1

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Related

Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
State v. Dunn
850 P.2d 1201 (Utah Supreme Court, 1993)
Parsons v. Barnes
871 P.2d 516 (Utah Supreme Court, 1994)
State v. Wanosik
2003 UT 46 (Utah Supreme Court, 2003)
State v. Weaver
2005 UT 49 (Utah Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Templin
805 P.2d 182 (Utah Supreme Court, 1990)
State v. Hards
2015 UT App 42 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2015)

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Bluebook (online)
2015 UT App 290, 364 P.3d 71, 801 Utah Adv. Rep. 33, 2015 Utah App. LEXIS 309, 2015 WL 7873638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-silveira-utahctapp-2015.