ROBERT MARVIN PIERCE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Robert Pierce appeals his conviction for rape and robbery, challenging the trial court's acceptance of his guilty plea without an explicit factual basis inquiry and alleging coercion and unfulfilled promises. The appellate court affirmed, finding the trial judge was adequately aware of the factual basis and that Pierce's allegations of coercion were unsupported by the record.
No reversible error occurred. A trial court may determine the factual basis for a guilty plea prior to sentencing rather than prior to acceptance of the plea. Here, the trial judge was adequately aware of the factual circumstances before both accepting the plea and imposing sentence. Pierce's allegations of coercion and broken promises were unsupported by the record and contradicted by his own testimony.
[1] A trial court is not required to determine the factual basis for a guilty plea prior to accepting the plea, as long as the factual basis is established prior to sentencin…
[2] A trial court may rely on testimony from a prior, related trial presided over by the same judge to establish the factual basis for a guilty plea.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“a lower court committed no reversible error when he determined the factual basis for the defendant's guilty plea prior to sentencing but not prior to acceptance of the plea”
Establishes the legal standard that factual basis inquiry need not precede plea acceptance
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePierce pleaded guilty to rape and robbery. The trial judge who accepted the plea had previously presided over a related trial (Case No. LM-70) involvi…
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BOYER, Judge.
Appellant seeks to have his conviction for rape and robbery overturned because, he contends, the trial court accepted his guilty plea and imposed sentence without first conducting an inquiry to determine whether there existed a factual basis for the guilty plea and because his plea was induced by coercion and promises made to him by his court-appointed counsel.
We turn first to the so-called “factual basis” issue which has been considered by this Court on countless prior occasions. (See, e. g., Estes v. State) Fla.App. 1st 1974, 294 So. 2d 122; Lyles v. State, Fla.App. 1st 1974, 299 So. 2d 146) Most recently, in Mower v. State, Fla.App. 1st 1975, 308 So. 2d 586, we held that a lower court committed no reversible error when he determined the factual basis for the defendant’s guilty plea prior to sentencing but not prior to acceptance of the plea. Sub judice, the record reveals that the lower court was aware of the factual basis for the plea prior to both accepting the plea and sentencing. For purposes of appeal, a joint record was filed in this case and in another case involving the same defendant. (Case No. U-470) The victims of the crimes involved in the case sub judice testified at the trial in Case No. U-470. The same judge who had earlier presided over the trial in Case No. LM-70 also accepted the appellant’s guilty plea in this case. He was, therefore, more than adequately aware of the factual circumstances relating to the appellant’s guilty plea.
Turning to appellant’s second point, his allegations of coercion and unfulfilled promises are completely unsupported by the record. To the contrary, when the appellant and his co-defendant were specifically asked by the trial court if any promises had been made to them or if they had been pressured or coerced into pleading guilty by anyone, they replied in the negative;
As the record' indicates that the trial judge had previously determined a factual basis for the appellant’s guilty plea and that the plea was not the product of coercion or promises, we affirm the lower court’s judgments and sentences.
Affirmed.
RAWLS, C. J., and McCORD, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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State v. Leroux, 689 So. 2d 235 (Fla. 1996)…replace the all-inclusive pronoun “anyone” with a laundrylist of all persons who might have made promises or threats to the defendant? Moreover, the majority reaches a conclusion without reason by finding that the conflict cases of Pierce v. State, 318 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975), and Garcia v. State, 228 So. 2d 300 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969), are “arguably distinguishable on their facts.” Majority op. at 236. The majority states that Pierce and Garcia did not involve “allegations of miscalculations or advice of…1 / 2
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Loconte v. State, 382 So. 2d 26 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979)…ther than that stated?” and “Has any person used any threats, force, pressure or intimidation to make you plead guilty to the charge?” Since the record conclusively refutes the allegations, the ruling of the trial court was correct. Pierce v. State, 318 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975); Garcia v. State, 228 So. 2d 300 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969). AFFIRMED. McCORD, C. J., and MILLS and SMITH, JJ., concur.…
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Hill v. State, 895 So. 2d 1122 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)…e of the plea and is patently the subject under inquiry when the defendant is asked whether anyone has made any promises or guarantees in reference to his plea. This view is supported by the court in Leroux explicitly distinguishing Pierce v. State, 318 So. 2d 501 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975), and Garcia v. State, 228 So. 2d 300 (Fla. 3d DCA 1969). Therefore, the judgment is affirmed. GUNTHER and POLEN, JJ., concur.…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Estes v. State, 294 So. 2d 122 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)
- Mower v. State, 308 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975)
- Lyles v. State, 299 So. 2d 146 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)