TONY DARIUS GOODWIN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that the trial court erred in accepting a plea without adequately determining its voluntariness, understanding, and factual basis.
[1] A trial court must determine, in open court, that the circumstances surrounding a plea reflect a full understanding of its significance and voluntariness, and that there…
[2] A perfunctory effort to determine the intelligence and voluntariness of a plea, without compliance with relevant rules of criminal procedure, warrants reversal.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe defendant sought to withdraw his no contest plea to felony charges. The record indicated a perfunctory inquiry by the trial court regarding the pl…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellant, defendant below, seeks review of the trial court’s order denying his motion to withdraw his no contest plea to various felony charges. We reverse.
Rule 3.170(j), Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure, states that “[n]o plea of guilty or nolo contendere shall be accepted by a court without first determining, in open court ..., that the circumstances surrounding the plea reflect a full understanding of the significance of the plea and its voluntariness, and that there is a factual basis for the plea_” Rule 3.172(a) is to the same effect.
The record in this case establishes that the effort to determine whether appellant’s plea was intelligently and voluntarily entered was perfunctory at best. No attempt was made to comply with either subsection (c) or (d) of Rule 3.172. (Although a written plea agreement had apparently previously been executed, the plea dialogue does not include any discussion sufficient to demonstrate that appellant understood the contents of the plea agreement, or its implications.)
In addition, the trial court failed to satisfy itself, from inquiry on the record, that there was a factual basis for appellant’s plea. Recently, in Koenig v. State, 597 So. 2d 256 (Fla.1992), the Court held that the convictions must be set aside and the case remanded with directions that the defendant be permitted to plead anew, both because the record failed to reflect compliance with Rule 3.172(c), and because the record did not contain “factual information to establish the offense to which the defendant has entered his plea.” Id. (The fact that the defendant’s attorney had stipulated that there was a factual basis for the plea was, according to the Court, insufficient.) We are of the opinion that Koenig mandates a like result in this case.
The judgment and sentence are reversed, and the case is remanded to the trial court with directions that the trial court permit appellant to plead anew.
REVERSED and REMANDED, with directions.
SMITH, ZEHMER and WEBSTER, JJ., concur.
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Nowlin v. State, 639 So. 2d 1050 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)…ense to which the defendant entered his plea. See also rule 3.172(a), Fla.R.Crim.P. (trial court, [*1051] before entering guilty plea, should satisfy itself that there is a factual basis for the plea). This court followed Koenig in Goodwin v. State, 598 So. 2d 295 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), holding that it was error not to grant a motion to withdraw a no contest plea where there was no inquiry made by the trial court on the record as to the factual basis for the appellant’s plea. The court noted that the fact that…1 / 2
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State v. Sullivan, 640 So. 2d 77 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994)…DCA 1987). Appeal dismissed. RYDER, A.C.J., and PATTERSON, J., concur. . Even if we had jurisdiction, we do not find from the record that the trial court committed error by allowing the appellee to withdraw her pleas of guilty. Goodwin v. State, 598 So. 2d 295 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992).…
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Watson v. State, 667 So. 2d 242 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)…ent and voluntary waiver of his constitutional rights” (id. at 257), the court “vacate[d] Koe-nig’s convictions and sentences ..., and remand[ed] with directions to the trial court to allow Koenig to plead anew.” Id. at 258. Accord Goodwin v. State, 598 So. 2d 295 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992). Here, as in Koenig, the “brief colloquy” between the trial court and appellant addressed none of the matters listed in Rule 3.172(c). Also here, as in Koenig, although appellant had signed a form which addressed in some detail t…
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- Koenig v. State, 597 So. 2d 256 (Fla. 1992)