JAMES EDWARD MCPHERSON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
James Edward McPherson appealed his conviction based on a nolo contendere plea, arguing the record failed to show his plea was knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered. The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction but emphasized the importance of trial courts making a clear record of guilty plea inquiry to comply with due process requirements established in Boykin v. Alabama.
The court affirmed the conviction because McPherson failed to demonstrate a violation of his constitutional rights on the record before the appellate court. The court held it was not willing to assume the trial judge failed to make adequate inquiry without support in the record, and noted McPherson never moved to withdraw the plea or indicated dissatisfaction with it until this appeal.
[1] A plea of nolo contendere, like a guilty plea, must be knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered to be valid.
[2] Due process requires that a defendant's plea be knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily made, and this cannot be presumed from a silent record.
Previewing 2 of 6 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“A plea of guilty is more than a confession which admits that the accused did various acts; it is itself a conviction; nothing remains but to give judgment and determine punishment.”
Establishes the gravity of guilty pleas under constitutional law, from Boykin v. Alabama
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMcPherson, a 17-year-old represented by court-appointed counsel, waived formal reading of the information and entered a nolo contendere plea to breaki…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Appeal From Judgment Of Conviction cases and more on FLexlaw
Defendant seeks review of a judgment of conviction and sentence based upon his plea of nolo contendere to an information charging him with the offense of breaking *19and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor. It is appellant’s primary contention that the record of the proceeding in the trial court fails to establish that his plea of nolo contendere was knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily entered, and, therefore, the judgment and sentence predicated thereon are void and should be set aside.
Prior to the time of his arraignment, appellant, a 17-year-old boy, was adjudged insolvent and the public defender was appointed to represent him. At the time of arraignment appellant’s counsel announced to the court that appellant waived the formal reading of the information and desired to enter a plea of nolo contendere as charged. At no time during this hearing does the record reflect any inquiry by the court of appellant as to the latter’s knowledge and understanding of the nature of the charge against him, or of the legal consequence of his plea. The record also fails to reflect any examination of appellant by the court touching upon the volun-tariness of his plea. Further proceedings in the case were adjourned to await a pre-sentence investigation. Some twenty days later appellant reappeared before the court in the company of his court-appointed counsel at which time his plea was accepted, he was adjudged guilty and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in the state prison. The record of this hearing fails to reflect any inquiry by the court of appellant concerning his understanding of the legal consequences of his plea or whether it was knowingly and understandingly made.
In the recent case of Boykin v. Alabama,1 the Supreme Court of the United States held in effect that a defendant who pleads guilty to a criminal offense with which he is charged is denied due process of law unless his plea is knowingly, understandingly, and voluntarily made. In that case the court said:
“A plea of guilty is more than a confession which admits that the accused did various acts; it is itself a conviction; nothing remains but to give judgment and determine punishment. * * * Admissibility of a confession must be based on a ‘reliable determination on the voluntariness issue which satisfies the constitutional rights of the defendant.’ * * * The requirement that the prosecution spread on the record the prerequisites of a valid waiver is no constitutional innovation. In Carnley v. Cochran, 369 U.S. 506, 516, 82 S.Ct. 884, 8 L.Ed.2d 70, 77, we dealt with a problem of waiver of the right to counsel, a Sixth Amendment right. We held: ‘Presuming waiver from a silent record is impermissible. The record must show, or there must be an allegation and evidence which show, that an accused was offered counsel but intelligently and understandingly rejected the offer. Anything less is not waiver.’
“We think that the same standard must be applied to determining whether a guilty plea is voluntarily made. For, as we have said, a plea of guilty is more than an admission of conduct; it is a conviction. Ignorance, incomprehension, coercion, terror, inducements, subtle or blatant threats might be a perfect coverup of unconstitutionality. The question of an effective waiver of a federal constitutional right in a proceeding is of course governed by federal standards. * * *
“Several federal constitutional rights are involved in a waiver that takes place when a plea of guilty is entered in a state criminal trial. First is the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment and applicable to the States by reason of the Fourteenth. * * * Second is the right to trial by jury. * * * Third, is the right to confront one’s accusers. * * * We cannot presume a waiver *20of these three important federal rights from a silent record.”
In the case sub judice appellant was represented by court-appointed counsel who entered on his behalf the plea of nolo contendere upon which the judgment of conviction and sentence was ultimately predicated. At the time this occurred appellant was accompanied before the bar of the court by his father who was present during the proceedings. Although some three weeks transpired between the initial hearing and the later hearing at which judgment and sentence were rendered, no motion was made by appellant to withdraw his plea because it was not knowingly and understandingly made or voluntarily tendered for acceptance by the court. Likewise, at the latter hearing no such motion or representation was made indicating a desire on appellant’s part to withdraw his tendered plea and plead not guilty of the charge against him. Indeed, at no time either prior or subsequent to the imposition of judgment and sentence has any contention been made by appellant that the plea of nolo contendere filed on his behalf by his attorney was not knowingly, understandingly, and voluntarily made. The only contention urged by him on this appeal is that the record of the two hearings held before the court failed to reflect any inquiry of him concerning his understanding of the nature of the charge alleged in the information, or the voluntariness of the plea entered on his behalf by his attorney. We are not willing to assume without adequate support in the record that the trial judge did not make such inquiry as he deemed adequate and sufficient to insure that the plea entered by appellant was knowingly, understandingly, and voluntarily made at the time it was accepted and relied on as the basis for the imposition of judgment and sentence. We must therefore hold on the basis of the record before us that appellant has failed to demonstrate any violation of his constitutional rights or that he has been deprived of due process of law by the manner in which his trial court proceedings were conducted.
In reaching the conclusion expressed above we deem it appropriate to invite the attention of trial courts to the importance of causing the record of the proceedings conducted by them on a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to clearly reflect that the plea was knowingly and understandingly tendered by the defendant and was voluntarily made free from any threats, intimidation, coercion, promises or inducements of any kind. Such may be done only by specific interrogation of the defendant by the court, and making sure that the record accurately reflects all questions asked and answers given concerning these issues. Such a record will render the judgment of conviction impervious to attack on the ground that the defendant was denied due process of law and deprived of his constitutional rights by the manner in which his plea was tendered and accepted. It will materially assist appellate courts in their consideration of challenges made to judgments based upon pleas of guilty and nolo contendere, and to this extent further the orderly administration of justice.
Although we do not find sufficient grounds for reversing the judgment appealed because of the reasons hereinabove stated, our holding is without prejudice to the right of appellant to challenge the vol-untariness of his plea and the validity of the judgment based thereon by a motion for post-conviction relief pursuant to the procedure authorized by Criminal Procedure Rule 1.850, 33 F.S.A. This is the procedure authorized and approved under similar circumstances by the Supreme Court of the United States in Halliday v. United States,2 and reaffirmed in the dissenting opinion by Justices Harlan and Black in Boykin v. Alabama, supra.
Affirmed.
CARROLL, DONALD K., Acting Chief Judge, and SPECTOR, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (11 total)
-
Allen v. State, 463 So. 2d 351 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)…ant, to prove that a conviction is void, must show not only that the court failed to inform him of his rights, but also that he did not actually understand his rights and did not make a knowing and voluntary waiver thereof.14 In McPherson v. State, 237 So. 2d 18 (Fla. 1st DCA 1970), the defendant sought review of a judgment of conviction based upon a plea of nolo contendere to an information charging the offense of breaking and entering with intent to commit a misdemeanor. The record reflected that at no ti…
-
Chester v. State, 276 So. 2d 76 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973)…and upon which a ruling adverse to the defendant was made. See Yost v. State, Fla.App.1971, 243 So. 2d 469; Bertone v. State, Fla.App. 1969, 224 So. 2d 400; Haverty v. State, Fla.App. 1972, 258 So. 2d 18. See also McPherson v. State, Fla.App. 1970, 237 So. 2d 18. Inasmuch as the sole point raised here for reversal is foreclosed to appellant Chester, the judgment appealed from must be and is— Affirmed. HOBSON, A. C. J., and McNULTY, J., concur.…
-
Enos v. State, 272 So. 2d 847 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973)…upra, which is the major and fundamental authority on the requirements to establish a guilty plea. There was no motion to withdraw there and Mr. Justice Harlan, in his dissent, seems to think there should have been. McPherson v. State, Fla.App.1970, 237 So. 2d 18, as does Hodge v. State, Fla.App.1970, 241 So. 2d 865, appears to take the same position as Mr. Justice Harlan in his dissent in Boykin v. Alabama, supra, and disregards the fact that the Boykin case does not require that an appellant first attempt…
Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238 (U.S. 1969)
- Carnley v. Cochran, 369 U.S. 506 (U.S. 1962)
- Halliday v. United States, 394 U.S. 831 (U.S. 1969)