United States v. Rollings

751 F.3d 1183, 2014 WL 2061667, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 9313
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMay 20, 2014
Docket13-6014
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 751 F.3d 1183 (United States v. Rollings) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Rollings, 751 F.3d 1183, 2014 WL 2061667, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 9313 (10th Cir. 2014).

Opinion

TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judge.

Terry Jo Rollings pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly possessing stolen goods. As part of the plea agreement, Rollings waived the right to appeal his guilty plea, the restitution imposed, and any other aspect of his conviction.

Despite waiving his right to appeal in his plea agreement, Rollings now wants to challenge his guilty plea. He argues that his guilty plea was not knowing and voluntary because he was not advised of the court’s authority to order restitution and because he was not aware of all of the elements of the crime charged. Since his guilty plea allegedly was not knowing and voluntary, he claims that his waiver of his right to appeal the plea was likewise invalid. The government moved to enforce Rollings’s appeal waiver under United States v. Hahn, 359 F.3d 1315 (10th Cir. 2004) (en banc) (per curiam).

We conclude that, in determining whether an appellate waiver is knowing and voluntary under Hahn, we may consider whether the entire plea agreement, including the plea, was entered knowingly and voluntarily. Because we find that Rollings’s guilty plea was knowing and voluntary, we AFFIRM the decision of the district court and GRANT the government’s motion to enforce the appeal waiver in Rollings’s plea agreement.

I. Background

Rollings entered into a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to stealing a cargo trailer truck. The plea agreement outlined the conduct underlying his guilty plea. In particular, the agreement stated:

Defendant agrees to enter a plea of guilty to Count 3 of the Third Superseding Indictment ... charging [he] knowingly possessed and concealed with intent to convert to their own use, chattels of a value in excess of $1,000.00 in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 659 and 2(a).

App. 133. 1 The plea agreement also stated that, to be found guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. §§ 659 and 2(a) as charged in the Third Superseding Indictment, Rollings was required to admit the basic elements of the crime: (1) he knowingly concealed and possessed the property described in the Third Superseding Indictment; (2) he did so “with the intent to deprive the owner of the use or benefit of the property or goods”; (3) the property was part of interstate or foreign shipment at the time; and (4) the property was over $1,000 in value. Id.

As part of the agreement, Rollings also signed a plea petition in which he stated:

I possessed and concealed a North American Cargo trailer and its contents valued over one thousand dollars including its contents that was part of interstate shipment with the intent to deprive the owner of use or benefit of the property. This was in the Western Dist of Okla from March 09 to May 2009.

Id. at 151. Rollings also affirmed that he knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to appeal or collaterally challenge his “guilty plea, sentence, restitution imposed, and any other aspect of his conviction.” Id. at 137.

*1187 At the subsequent hearing to approve the plea agreement, the government summarized the deal, describing the underlying charges and the facts that supported the plea agreement. Following the prosecutor’s summary, the district court assessed Rollings’s understanding of the charges and punishment:

THE COURT: Sir, do you believe that you fully understand the nature of the charges, the possible punishment, and the constitutional rights you’re entitled to?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes.
THE COURT: Knowing all the rights that you have and would be waiving and fully understanding the nature of the charges against you and the possible punishment, how do you plead to Count III of the Third Superseding Indictment? Guilty or not guilty?
THE DEFENDANT: Guilty.

Id. at 216-17. The district court then asked the prosecutor to summarize the terms of the agreement and question Rollings about the factual basis for his guilty plea. Also during the plea colloquy, Rollings indicated that he understood the constitutional rights he was forfeiting by pleading guilty and that he understood that by pleading guilty he waived the right to appeal or collaterally challenge the sentence. Following the colloquy with the prosecutor, the district court accepted Rollings’s guilty plea, finding that Rollings entered the plea “voluntarily and with full understanding of the rights being given up, and that there is a factual basis for [his] plea.” Id. at 226.

II. Analysis

Rollings contends that the appellate waiver was invalid because he did not knowingly and voluntarily enter the plea agreement containing the appellate waiver. He bases this contention on two mistakes he claims the district court made in approving the plea agreement: (1) it misled him about the elements of the crime to which he pleaded guilty, and (2) it failed to apprise him that it could order substantial restitution as part of the sentence. In other words, he did not fully understand his crime or his potential punishment in entering the plea agreement. According to Rollings, his plea, therefore, was not knowing and voluntary.

The government asks us to ignore these questions. It points to the appellate waiver and urges us to confirm the waiver and dismiss the appeal, relying on Hahn, 359 F.3d at 1325-28. Applying the analytical framework for enforcing appellate waivers set out in Hahn, the government argues we should limit our inquiry only to the appellate waiver provision of the plea agreement in determining whether the agreement itself was entered knowingly and voluntarily. In response, Rollings argues that our cases require a more holistic review of the entire plea agreement, including the guilty plea, to ascertain whether the agreement was entered knowingly and voluntarily.

We conclude the better reading of the law is that where, as here, the parties intended the agreement to stand or fall as a whole, we may examine all of the terms of the plea agreement in deciding whether to enforce an appellate waiver.

A. Hahn and Appellate Waivers

Hahn instructs us to enforce an appellate waiver after a familiar three-step process. We consider whether (1) “the disputed appeal falls within the scope of the waiver of appellate rights”; (2) “the defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his appellate rights”; and (3) “enforcing the waiver would [not] result in a miscarriage of justice.” Hahn, 359 F.3d at 1325 (emphasis added). The defendant bears the burden of establishing these requirements. See id. at 1329.

*1188

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
751 F.3d 1183, 2014 WL 2061667, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 9313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-rollings-ca10-2014.