State v. Torres

438 A.2d 46, 182 Conn. 176, 1980 Conn. LEXIS 973
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedAugust 19, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by72 cases

This text of 438 A.2d 46 (State v. Torres) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Torres, 438 A.2d 46, 182 Conn. 176, 1980 Conn. LEXIS 973 (Colo. 1980).

Opinions

Parskey, J.

The defendant was charged with the crimes of burglary in the third degree in violation of General Statutes § 53a-103, attempted larceny in the second degree in violation of § 53a-123 and § 53a-49a, and being a persistent felony offender under § 53a-40 (b). He entered a plea of guilty to the burglary charge. Before the imposition of sentence the defendant filed a motion to vacate his plea on the grounds that (1) it was not voluntary, knowing and intelligent, (2) he did not fully understand the implications of the plea nor did he understand the rights a guilty plea waived, (3) there was no factual basis for the plea, (4) the record did not demonstrate adequately a knowing, voluntary and intelligent waiver sufficient to support a plea of guilty and (5) the state would not be prejudiced by the relief requested. At oral argument on the motion the defendant amplified these grounds by making eleven claims of law. These may be condensed into three constitutional claims which the defendant has pursued in his brief, namely, that the acceptance of the plea did not comport with constitutional standards, that the defendant lacked an understanding of the plea proceedings and that his guilty plea was tainted by ineffective assistance of counsel. The defendant made an offer of proof and requested an evidentiary hearing to prove the latter two claims. The court denied both the request for a hearing and the motion to vacate the plea and thereafter imposed a sentence [178]*178of not less than two nor more than four years. The defendant claims error in the denial of both the evidentiary hearing and his motion.

I

We have set forth in a footnote1 the complete transcript of the plea proceedings. The defendant, relying principally on United States v. Lincecum, [179]*179568 F.2d 1229 (5th Cir. 1978), argues that single-word responses to inquiries from the court invalidates the plea as a matter of constitutional law. We disagree.

Although some form of meaningful dialogue is preferable to monosyllabic responses by the defend[180]*180ant, we have never held that single-word responses require an automatic vacation of a guilty plea. We have said that “[i]f the questioning of a defendant to determine whether a plea of guilty represents a voluntary and intelligent choice and waiver of rights is to have any meaning, the answers elicited from the defendant in open court should he something more than a mouthing of platitudes.” State v. Battle, 170 Conn. 469, 475, 365 A.2d 1100 (1976). This is true whether the responses are single words [181]*181or, as in Battle, single or multiple sentences. “To insulate from attack convictions obtained after a plea of guilty, tbe trial court is best advised to conduct an on-the-record examination of the defendant which will disclose, inter alia, a full understanding of what the plea connotes and of its consequence, and which will demonstrate that the plea of guilty was entered intelligently, knowingly and voluntarily.” State v. Bugbee, 161 Conn. 531, 536, 290 [182]*182A.2d 332 (1971). If a fair reading of the record satisfies the standards set down in Bugbee, the guilty plea will withstand a constitutional attack based on facial invalidity.

The defendant’s reliance on a number of federal cases for the proposition that single-word reponses render a guilty plea constitutionally defective is misplaced. In Sierra v. Government of Canal Zone, 546 F.2d 77 (5th Cir. 1977), the court, referring to Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, made the following observation: “Routine questions on the subject of understanding are insufficient, and a single response by the defendant that he ‘understands’ the charge gives no assurance or basis for believing he does.” Id., 79. (Emphasis added.) These statements were repeated with approval in United States v. Lincecum, supra, 1231, and Coody v. United States, 570 F.2d 540, 541 (5th Cir. 1978). But in United States v. Dayton, 604 F.2d 931 (5th Cir. 1979), the court upon further reflection noted that “[mjeasured deliberation has convinced us that such statements are too broad.” Id., 941.

In Dayton the defendant was charged in two counts with unlawfully, knowingly and intentionally possessing with intent to distribute a certain quantity of marihuana. Id. The trial court, after reading the indictment to the defendant, inquired whether the defendant understood the nature of the charges, to which the defendant replied “Yes, sir.” The court then inquired whether the defendant had any questions about it, to which the defendant responded “No, sir.” The court then invited the government’s attorney to state the facts which the government contended could he proven following [183]*183which the court inquired of the defendant whether the facts were true and whether they could be proved against the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, to which the defendant responded “Yes, your honor.” Id., 942. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the conviction against a challenge that the plea was taken in violation of Rule 11. Id., 942-43.

The defendant argues that Rule 11 embodies constitutional requirements regarding guilty pleas and our own rules §§ 711-713 mirror the federal rule. Even if we assume that this is substantially so; see United States v. Dayton, supra, 946 (Brown, C. J., concurring); Dayton makes clear that single-word responses do not necessarily render guilty pleas constitutionally infirm.

The charge in this case was not complex. It involved entering a private dwelling without permission of the owner with the intent to commit larceny. The defendant stated that he understood the charge and thereafter admitted that he drove his wife’s car to a certain residence in Guilford with the intention of “robbing” it, that he and a companion entered the dwelling for the purpose of stealing the television set, that upon being surprised by a neighbor in the course of the burglary the two ran away leaving the television set in the driveway next to the car. The record further discloses that the defendant understood that by pleading guilty he waived his constitutional right to a jury trial, his right to confront his accusers and his privilege against self-incrimination and that he was entering his plea voluntarily after discussing the matter with his attorney. The defendant’s attorney, upon inquiry, knew no legal reason why the guilty plea [184]*184should not be accepted. The record sufficiently meets the requisite constitutional standards for the acceptance of guilty pleas. State v. Bugbee, supra.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
438 A.2d 46, 182 Conn. 176, 1980 Conn. LEXIS 973, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-torres-conn-1980.