STEVEN RITCHIE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Steven Ritchie entered a guilty plea to sexual battery and child abuse charges on the condition that he would be held in county jail until transferred to federal/out-of-state authorities, but the trial judge never clearly assured him this condition would be met. When Ritchie discovered he would be returned to state prison where his life was endangered, he moved to withdraw his plea. The appellate court reversed and allowed the withdrawal, holding that fundamental fairness requires permitting plea withdrawal when a defendant relied on a material factual misunderstanding about a condition of the plea.
The court reversed and remanded, holding that a court should liberally exercise its discretion to permit withdrawal of a guilty plea where the defendant demonstrates the plea was based on a failure of communication or misunderstanding of material facts, and that fundamental fairness requires permitting withdrawal when the defendant was not apprised of the trial court's inability to ensure compliance with a condition that was obviously important to his decision to plead.
[1] A court should liberally permit a defendant to withdraw a guilty plea when the plea was based on a material misunderstanding of facts that negated the benefit of the plea…
[2] Fundamental fairness requires allowing a defendant to withdraw a guilty plea when the trial court cannot ensure compliance with a material condition of the plea agreement…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“A court should be liberal in exercising its discretion to permit a defendant to withdraw his guilty plea where he demonstrates that the plea was based upon a failure of communication or a misunderstanding of facts which were material in his decision to enter the plea.”
Establishes the governing legal standard for plea withdrawal review, emphasizing a liberal approach when material misunderstandings are involved.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceRitchie's public defender negotiated a plea agreement conditioning guilty pleas on three charges in exchange for Ritchie being held in county jail unt…
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BOARDMAN, Acting Chief Judge.
Appellant challenges the trial court’s order denying his motion to withdraw a guilty plea which he allegedly entered under a factual misunderstanding which negated the benefit of his plea bargain. We reverse.
Before appellant entered the courtroom, his public defender advised the trial judge that appellant would plead guilty to the charged offenses of sexual battery of a child under the age of eleven, handling and fondling a child under the age of fourteen, and child abuse in exchange for the court’s agreement to certain stated conditions. One of those express conditions included appellant’s being “classified and held in the county jail” until picked up by federal and out-of-state officials to answer other pending charges. The trial judge immediately informed defense counsel that he had “no problem about recommending” appellant’s retention in the county jail, but he questioned whether he had jurisdiction to require such placement. No one, however, apprised appellant of the judge’s statement.
When appellant entered the courtroom, defense counsel reiterated the conditions under which his client was willing to plead. Without discussing his authority to carry out any of the announced conditions, or modifying them in any way, the trial judge accepted appellant’s plea after ascertaining his competency and explaining the consequences of his plea. The record reflects that at one point in the colloquy, the trial judge even stated, “All right. And all the other matters indicated will be done. I will, however, order a pre-sentence investigation. Do you understand that?”1
Approximately one month after entering his plea, appellant learned that he would be returned to the state prison system where a “contract” had been issued on his life as a result of his previous cooperation with prison officials. He, consequently, moved to withdraw his guilty plea. After conducting a hearing, the trial court denied this motion and subsequently sentenced appellant to concurrent sentences of life imprisonment on the sexual battery charge, with a twenty-five-year minimum mandatory sentence for that offense, five years on the charge of handling and fondling, and one year on the charge of child abuse. This timely appeal ensued.
A court should be liberal in exercising its discretion to permit a defendant to withdraw his guilty plea where he demonstrates that the plea was based upon a failure of communication or a misunderstanding of facts which were material in his decision to enter the plea. Forbert v. State, 437 So. 2d 1079, 1081 (Fla.1983); Brown v. State, 245 So. 2d 41, 44 (Fla,1971); Richardson v. State, 432 So. 2d 750, 751 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). The withdrawal of a guilty plea should not be denied in any case where it is evident that the ends of justice would be best served by permitting it. Jordan v. State, 107 So. 2d 56 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958).
In the instant case, appellant entered his plea under the mistaken assumption that he would be retained in the county jail until transferred to answer criminal charges pending in other jurisdictions. Because this factor was of obvious importance in appellant’s decision to plead, fundamental fairness requires that he be allowed to withdraw his plea when he was not apprised of the trial court’s inability to ensure compliance with this condition. We, consequently, reverse appellant’s judgment and sentence and remand with directions to permit appellant to withdraw his guilty plea, if he so desires, and to proceed to trial.
Reversed and remanded.
DANAHY and LEHAN, JJ., concur. . While we recognize the inconsistency of this statement, we cannot discern the judge’s intent from the record nor will we engage in speculation on this point.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Golden v. State, 509 So. 2d 1149 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987)…ted as involuntary. Certainly, a plea may be withdrawn where the judge abides by the plea agreement but the defendant was induced to enter the plea by a mistake or misunderstanding. Tobey v. State, 458 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); Ritchie v. State, 458 So. 2d 877 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). Appellant contends that his counsel informed him that the maximum sentence he could receive was life imprisonment, which he understood to mean a life sentence, with jurisdiction over one-third of his reasonable life expectancy. A…
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Watson v. State, 667 So. 2d 242 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)…on addressed to the discretion of the trial court. Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.170(f). However, such discretion is not unbridled. Rather, it is constrained by the interests of justice. E.g., Ryals v. State, 516 So. 2d 1092 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987); Ritchie v. State, 458 So. 2d 877 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). Here, the record fails affirmatively to reflect that appellant’s pleas were intelligent and voluntary. Under the circumstances, we believe that it was error of a federal constitutional dimension to refuse to permit appellant to…
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Kirkman v. State, 559 So. 2d 695 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)…sentence that would render him eligible for the MDSO program. Because he did not receive the sentence for which he bargained, he should have been given the opportunity to withdraw his plea. Davis v. State, 308 So. 2d 27 (Fla.1975); Ritchie v. State, 458 So. 2d 877 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984); Richardson v. State, 432 So. 2d 750 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). While the plea agreement provided that the state would recommend that the sentence to be imposed run concurrently with the earlier sentence, “[t]o say in these circumstances…
Previewing 3 of 5 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Brown v. State, 245 So. 2d 41 (Fla. 1971)
- Forbert v. State, 437 So. 2d 1079 (Fla. 1983)
- Ellis Richardson v. State, 432 So. 2d 750 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983)
- Jordan v. State, 107 So. 2d 56 (Fla. 2d DCA 1958)