Hannah v. State

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

COBB, Presiding Justice,

for the court.

¶ 1. The State’s motion for rehearing is denied. The previous opinions are withdrawn, and these opinions are substituted therefor.

¶2. Emma Hannah pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Winston County Circuit Court and was sentenced to serve twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. She subsequently filed a pro se petition for post-conviction relief which the trial court denied. The Court of Appeals subsequently found she waived all claims by pleading guilty and affirmed the trial court. Hannah v. State, 943 So.2d 51, 2005 WL 949240 (Miss.Ct.App.2005). Hannah now seeks relief before this Court through her pro se petition for writ of certiorari, in which she asserts that the trial court, as well as the Court of Appeals, erred by finding that: (1) she failed to prove ineffective assistance of counsel and (2) she knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily pleaded guilty. We granted her petition to independently review Hannah’s two primary issues, which the Court of Appeals did not address.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS IN TRIAL COURT AND COURT OF APPEALS

¶ 3. On December 11, 2002, the Winston County Circuit Court accepted Hannah’s guilty plea to manslaughter in the June 8, 2001, death of her husband Winfred Hannah. Winfred died as a result of complications arising from an incident where boiling water was poured on him. On the day of trial, defense counsel informed the trial court that a plea would be entered by Hannah. After the usual colloquy, the trial judge announced that he would not accept the plea, after Hannah’s statement that she “didn’t do it.” After a jury was seated and the parties announced ready to proceed, the court recessed. Following the break, defense counsel again informed the court that Hannah wanted to change her plea from not guilty of murder to guilty of manslaughter. The trial court then asked Hannah if she remembered all of the questions he had just asked, and when she answered affirmatively he proceeded with a short additional inquiry and accepted her plea. After a thorough sentencing hearing, Hannah was sentenced to the maximum time to serve, twenty years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

¶ 4. From the time of sentencing, Hannah proceeded pro se. Hannah first filed a petition for post-conviction relief in the Winston County Circuit Court which was denied. However, that order was neither entered in the minutes of the court nor filed with the circuit clerk, and it is unclear from the record exactly what transpired with Hannah’s motion. The trial court later entered a substitute order denying Hannah’s post-conviction relief. She appealed to the Court of Appeals, which affirmed the trial court, without addressing the issues of ineffective assistance of counsel or the validity of Hannah’s guilty plea. After our independent review of the record, with particular attention to these two issues, we conclude that she has raised meritorious arguments and should be allowed to proceed. We reverse and remand to the trial court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

ANALYSIS

¶ 5. In reviewing the denial of a petition for post-conviction relief we will reverse the factual findings of the trial court only if they are clearly erroneous; however, questions of law are reviewed de novo. Boddie v. State, 875 So.2d 180, 183 (Miss.2004) (citing Brown v. State, 731 So.2d 595, 598 (Miss.1999)).

I. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

¶ 6. Hannah asserts that she received ineffective assistance of counsel, as to the plea as well as other underlying matters. The United States Supreme Court adopted a two-prong standard for evaluating claims of ineffective assistance of counsel in Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). First, the convicted defendant must show that counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Id. at 687-88, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Second, the defendant must show there is reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. 2052. This test applies with equal validity to challenges to guilty pleas. Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 58, 106 S.Ct. 366, 370, 88 L.Ed.2d 203 (1985).

¶ 7. As applied to the plea process, the focus of the first prong remains the same, while the second prong focuses on whether counsel’s unprofessional performance affected the outcome. Id. In the present case, Hannah must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors, she would not have pleaded guilty, would have insisted on going to trial, and the outcome would have been different. This Court has held that a reasonable probability arises when the ineffectiveness is of such sufficient moment that the integrity of the proceeding or our confidence in the outcome has been shaken. Leatherwood v. State, 539 So.2d 1378, 1385 (Miss.1989).

¶ 8. In Myers v. State, 583 So.2d 174, 178 (Miss.1991), this Court eloquently stated an appropriate backdrop to the current situation:

The relationship of the accused to his lawyer provides a critical factual context here. As he stands before the bar of justice, the indicted defendant often has few friends. The one person in the world, upon whose judgment and advice, skill and experience, loyalty and integrity that defendant must be able to rely, is his lawyer. This is as it should be. Any rational defendant is going to rely heavily upon his lawyer’s advice as to how he should respond to the trial judge’s questions at the plea hearing. He may also rationally rely on his lawyer’s advice what the outcome of the plea hearing will be. Yet it is the defendant, not the lawyer, who enters the plea. It is the defendant, not the lawyer, who is going to serve the time. It is the defendant, not the lawyer, whose constitutional rights are being waived at the plea hearing. It is the defendant’s plea and accompanying waiver of rights which under established law must be voluntarily and intelligently given, with full appreciation of the consequences to follow.

Hannah asserts that there were conflicting statements by the victim identifying his attacker as another woman to members of the burn center that treated him for his injuries. In support of this claim, Hannah points this Court to medical reports in the record. Also, Hannah claims that she received injuries earlier that evening which would have limited or defeated her physical capability to perform the acts required to commit the crime. Hannah further asserts that there were other people, including the victim’s girlfriend, in the house at various times prior to and at the time of the scalding.

¶ 9. The second prong of Strickland, as it applies to guilty pleas, is whether the evidence likely would have changed the outcome. Hill, 474 U.S. at 59, 106 S.Ct. 366. The question now is not whether Hannah is precluded from making this argument because she pleaded guilty. The question is whether the evidence and testimony, if properly investigated and presented, would have changed the outcome had the parties gone forward.

¶ 10. Such evidence includes the contradictory statements that the victim’s girlfriend poured water on him. This evidence, set forth in the medical records, along with Hannah’s testimony that someone else committed this act, is enough to raise a reasonable doubt that Hannah committed the offense. In the alternative, if defense counsel had presented the contradictory statements, delved further into Hannah’s claims of prior abuse by the victim and of the abuse she says had taken place immediately prior to the incident, and asserted the intervening circumstances of the victim’s death from respiratory failure, it is reasonable to conclude that the outcome of a jury trial may have been different.

II. VOLUNTARINESS OF HANNAH’S GUILTY PLEA

¶ 11. A valid guilty plea must represent a voluntary and intelligent choice by the defendant among the alternative courses of action available. Hill, 474 U.S. at 56, 106 S.Ct. 366 (citing North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 31, 91 S.Ct. 160, 164, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970)). This Court has long held that there is no per se rule prohibiting a collateral attack on the validity of a guilty plea. Baker v. State, 358 So.2d 401, 403 (Miss.1978). However, we remain mindful of the strong presumption of validity that goes with solemn declarations made in open court and the need for finality. Id. The burden of proof is on the petitioner to prove that her plea was not voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently given. Gardner v. State, 531 So.2d 805, 810 (Miss.1988).

¶ 12. “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.” Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1711-12, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969). Ignorance, incomprehension, coercion, terror or other inducements, both subtle and blatant, threaten the constitutionality of a guilty plea. Boykin, 395 U.S. at 242-43, 89 S.Ct. 1709. This Court has crafted a series of warnings to ensure the voluntariness of a defendant’s guilty plea. A defendant must be advised concerning the nature of the charge against her and the consequences of her plea including the minimum and maximum sentences that may be imposed. Alexander v. State, 605 So.2d 1170, 1172 (Miss.1992). The defendant must be told that her guilty plea waives several constitutional rights including her right to trial by jury, the right to confront adverse witnesses and the right to protection against self-incrimination. Id. See also Boykin, 395 U.S. at 243-44, 89 S.Ct. 1709.

¶ 13. The present case presents an unusual challenge under these standards. After the trial court was first informed that Hannah desired to plead guilty to manslaughter, there was a plea colloquy. During the colloquy the trial court informed Hannah of her rights and the minimum and maximum sentences for the crime to which she was pleading guilty. The trial court ascertained that Hannah had discussed the nature of the charges against her and any defenses she might have with her attorney and what the State would be required to prove in order to convict her. The trial court also inquired as to whether she was sober at the moment, and whether she was coerced into pleading guilty.

¶ 14. Lastly, the trial court asked the State to proffer its evidence. The prosecutor read into the record the evidence against Hannah and the trial court followed with these questions:

THE COURT: You’ve heard what the State would intend to prove if this case went to trial. In other words, if we went ahead and had the trial today, that is what — [the prosecutor’s] intentions would be to prove that. Do you understand that?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: You’ve heard what [the prosecutor] said. Did you do you those things?

THE DEFENDANT: I — no, I didn’t. But yeah, I heard what he said.

THE COURT: You didn’t do it.

THE DEFENDANT: No. I can’t prove that I didn’t do it.

THE COURT: I can’t take your plea.

The second time Hannah approached the trial court about pleading guilty to the charge of manslaughter, the following occurred out of the presence of the jury:

THE COURT: ... Miss Hannah, you know I went through the stuff before. Did you understand all that?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: Would your answer be the same now as it was then?

THE DEFENDANT: No.

THE COURT: No. No. I mean all the stuff that I asked you before—

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: — excluding the part about what [the prosecutor] said, would you answer that the same?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: You heard what he said he was going to prove if this case went to trial.

THE DEFENDANT: Right.

THE COURT: That you threw water on this man and he died because of it. Did you understand what he said?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: All right. Did you, in fact, do that?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

THE COURT: Are you pleading guilty to that — to the charge of manslaughter or the factual situation that he gave because you, in fact, are guilty of doing that?

THE DEFENDANT: Yes.

¶ 15. Voluntariness in the context of a guilty plea means voluntary in a constitutional sense. Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 637, 645, 96 S.Ct. 2253, 49 L.Ed.2d 108 (1976). In Henderson, the Supreme Court acknowledged that “a plea cannot support a judgment of guilt unless it was voluntary in a constitutional sense.” The Court found that a plea could not be voluntary in the sense that it constituted an intelligent admission unless the defendant received “real notice of the true nature of the charge against him, the first and most universally recognized requirement of due process.” Id. (citing Smith v. O’Grady, 312 U.S. 329, 334, 61 S.Ct. 572, 85 L.Ed. 859 (1941)).

¶ 16. A factual basis for a plea may be established by the admission of the defendant, but the admission must contain factual statements constituting a crime or be accompanied by independent evidence of guilt. Reynolds v. State, 521 So.2d 914, 917 (Miss.1988). This Court has held that a factual basis is not established by the mere fact that a defendant enters a plea of guilty. Lott v. State, 597 So.2d 627, 628 (Miss.1992).

¶ 17. Hannah’s level of awareness and understanding during the plea colloquy is unclear. She merely answered “yes” to questions from the judge. When she faltered and said “no,” the judge restated the question with little or no explanation. The record before us indicates that the trial court, at sentencing, had some evidence that Hannah committed the offense. Whether such evidence was sufficient is difficult to ascertain, particularly since Hannah continued to maintain during sentencing that she was not guilty and offered speculation as to who might have thrown the boiling water on the victim. See Corley v. State, 585 So.2d 765, 767-68 (Miss.1991).

¶ 18. This Court has said that it may look beyond the plea transcript to determine whether there was a factual basis for the charge. Boddie v. State, 875 So.2d 180, 183 (Miss.2004) (as to Boddie’s argument that there was no factual basis for his guilty plea, this Court is not limited to the transcript of Boddie’s guilty plea hearing, but we are allowed to review the record as a whole). Under the facts gleaned from the entire record, we conclude that there is some question whether the plea following the second colloquy was knowing, intelligent and voluntary. In viewing the entire record we can see additional facts discussed supra, which raise doubt as to the voluntariness of her plea.

¶ 19. Both colloquies happened on the same day and only hours apart. However, the information presented at the sentencing hearing raises doubt.

CONCLUSION

¶ 20. We hold that the voluntariness and knowledge of Hannah’s guilty plea are in doubt. Further, we hold that she has raised a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel which requires a full evidentiary hearing. Therefore, we reverse the judgments of the Court of Appeals and the Winston County Circuit Court and remand this case to the circuit court for an eviden-tiary hearing and ruling on Hannah’s claims consistent with this opinion and Miss.Code Ann. § 99-39-23 (Supp.2005).

¶ 21. REVERSED AND REMANDED.

WALLER, P.J., DIAZ, GRAVES, DICKINSON AND RANDOLPH, JJ„ CONCUR. SMITH, C.J., DISSENTS WITH SEPARATE WRITTEN OPINION JOINED BY EASLEY AND CARLSON, JJ.

. In Hannah’s pro se, handwritten brief to the Court of Appeals she enumerated the four issues for appeal which were addressed by the Court of Appeals. However, within the summary of her argument she also clearly alleged ineffective assistance of counsel and asserted that her plea was involuntary, issues not addressed by the Court of Appeals. Further, an unsworn affidavit which was attached to her brief also alleged ineffective assistance of counsel. Although ineffective assistance of counsel and the voluntariness of her guilty plea were not enumerated, the two unambiguous and explicit references in her 11 page brief were sufficient to have put the Court of Appeals on notice to consider these arguments. Miss.Code Ann. Section 99-39-27(5) directs this Court and the Court of Appeals to study the entire record to determine whether the petitioner makes a substantial showing of a denial of a federal or state right. Moore v. Ruth, 556 So.2d 1059, 1061 (Miss.1990) (citing Neal v. State, 525 So.2d 1279, 1280-81 (Miss.1987); Billiot v. State, 515 So.2d 1234, 1236-37 (Miss. 1987)). Where, as here, a prisoner is proceeding pro se, we take that fact into account and, in our discretion, credit not so well pleaded allegations, so that a prisoner’s meritorious complaint may not be lost because inartfully drafted. See Moore, 556 So.2d at 1061; See also Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520, 92 S.Ct. 594, 596, 30 L.Ed.2d 652 (1972); Sanders v. State, 440 So.2d 278, 283 n. 1 (Miss.1983). Even though Hannah’s brief was not professionally done nor perfectly organized in accord with M.R.A.P. 28, these two issues were before the Court of Appeals.