WILLARD HODGE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Appellant Hodge challenges his guilty plea convictions for petit and grand larceny, arguing the trial court failed to establish his plea was made knowingly and voluntarily as required by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Boykin v. Alabama. The court affirmed the convictions, finding the sparse colloquy does not affirmatively demonstrate a violation of constitutional rights.
The court affirmed the conviction, holding that the absence of a detailed inquiry on the record does not automatically constitute error and that the defendant failed to demonstrate a violation of constitutional rights, though the ruling was made without prejudice to seeking post-conviction relief under Criminal Procedure Rule 1.850.
[1] A trial court must determine that a guilty plea is voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly made before accepting it.
[2] A defendant must demonstrate from the record that the trial court failed to make adequate inquiry before accepting a guilty plea to establish a violation of constitutiona…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“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.”
Establishes the court's standard of review—presuming the trial judge conducted adequate inquiry even if not reflected in the record
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceHodge, represented by the public defender, initially pleaded not guilty to petit and grand larceny charges. Before trial, he sought to withdraw his no…
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Appellant seeks reversal of a judgment of conviction and sentence based upon his plea of guilty to two counts of an information charging him separately with the offenses of petit larceny and grand larceny. It is his contention that the trial court erred in failing to' determine before accepting his plea of guilty that it was voluntarily, knowingly and understanding^ made, and therefore the judgment of conviction based upon such plea is void and should be set aside.
Appellant was represented in the trial court by the office of the public defender. After pleading not guilty to both counts of the information brought against him, appellant appeared before the court accompanied by his counsel who announced that appellant desired to withdraw his plea of not guilty and to plead guilty to the lesser charge of petit larceny alleged in count one of the information and to plead guilty to grand larceny alleged in count two thereof. A transcript of the proceedings held before the court at the time of tendering such plea of guilty establishes that the following colloquy between the court and defendant constitutes the only inquiry made by the court of defendant with respect to his plea:
“THE COURT: Is that your desire, Mr. Hodge ?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: The plea will be accepted and the case will be referred to the Florida Parole Commission for investigation, report and recommendation.”
The record reflects no inquiry by the court of appellant as to the latter’s knowledge and understanding of the nature of the charge against him, the legal consequences of his plea of guilty, or whether the plea was voluntarily and understandingly made.
It is appellant’s contention that the trial court erred in accepting his plea of guilty and rendering judgment and sentence there*866on without first having determined that his plea was knowingly and understandingly made as required by the Supreme Court of the United States in Boykin v. Alabama.1
The identical issue raised on this appeal was considered by this court in McPherson v. State.2 In rejecting appellant’s contention that the trial court had erred, thereby requiring reversal of his judgment of conviction and sentence, this court said:
“ * * * 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.”
Our holding in McPherson was specifically made without prejudice to the right of appellant to seek post-conviction relief as authorized by Criminal Procedure Rule 1.850, 33 F.S.A. The judgment appealed is accordingly affirmed.
CARROLL, DONALD K„ Acting C. J., and RAWLS, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Allen v. State, 463 So. 2d 351 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)…d 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. Id. at 20. Accord, Hodge v. State, 241 So. 2d 865 (Fla. 1st DCA 1970). See Smith v. Morgan, 284 So. 2d 12 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973); Williams v. State, 316 So. 2d 267 (Fla.1975). [*364] We do not interpret McPherson as requiring that the defendants must have raised constitutional objections in the prior p…
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Enos v. State, 272 So. 2d 847 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973)…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 to withdraw his plea in the trial court. Thus, we deli…
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Hodge v. State, 246 So. 2d 113 (Fla. 1971)…Certiorari denied. 241 So. 2d 865. CARLTON, Acting C. J., and ADKINS, BOYD, McCAIN and DEKLE, JJ., concur.…
Authorities Cited
- Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238 (U.S. 1969)
- McPHERSON v. State, 237 So. 2d 18 (Fla. 1st DCA 1970)