HENDERSON, CORRECTIONAL SUPERINTENDENT v. MORGAN
No. 74-1529
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 24, 1976—Decided June 17, 1976
426 U.S. 637
Joseph E. Lynch, by appointment of the Court, 423 U. S. 943, argued the cause and filed a brief for respondent.
MR. JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.
The question presented is whether a defendant may enter a voluntary plea of guilty to a charge of second-degree murder without being informed that intent to cause the death of his victim was an element of the offense.
The case arises out of a collateral attack on a judgment entered by a state trial court in Fulton County, N. Y., in 1965. Respondent, having been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder, pleadеd guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to an indeterminate term of imprisonment of 25 years to life. He did not appeal.
In 1970, respondent initiated proceedings in the New York courts seeking to have his conviction vacated on
Upon remand the District Judge heard the testimony of several witnesses including respondent, the two lawyers who had represented him in 1965, the prosecutor,
At the conclusion of the hearing, the District Court made only two specific findings оf fact.5 First, contrary to respondent‘s testimony, the court expressly found that he was advised that a 25-year sentence would be imposed if he pleaded guilty. Second, the court found that respondent “was not advised by counsel or court, at any time, that an intent to cause the death or a design to effect the death of the victim was an essential element of Murder 2nd degree.” On the basis of the latter finding, the District Court held “as a matter of law” that the plea of guilty was involuntary and had to be set aside.6
Before addressing the question whether the District Court correctly held the plea invalid as a matter of law, we review some of the facts developed at the evidentiary hearing.
I
On April 6, 1965, respondent killed Mrs. Ada Francisco in her home.
When he was in seventh grade, respondent was committed to the Rome State School for Mental Defectives where he was classified as “retarded.” He was released to become a farm laborer and ultimately went to work on Mrs. Francisco‘s farm. Following an argument, she threatened to return him to state custody. He then decided to abscond. During the night he entered Mrs. Francisco‘s bedroom with a knife, intending to collect his earned wages before leaving; she awoke, began to scream, and he stabbed her.8 He took a small amount of money, fled in her car, and became involved in an accident about 80 miles away. The knife was found in the glove compartment of her car. He was promptly arrested and made a statement to the police. He was
Respondent was indicted for first-degree murder and arraigned on April 15, 1965. Two concededly competent attorneys were appointed to represent him. The indictment, which charged that he “willfully” stabbed his victim, was read in open court. His lawyers requested, and were granted, access to his written statement and to earlier psychiatric reports. A new psychiatric examination was requested and ordered.
Respondent was found competent to stand trial. Defense counsel held a series of conferences with the prosecutors, with the respondent, and with members of his family. The lawyers “thought manslaughter first would satisfy the needs of justice.”10 They therefore endeavored to have the charge reduced to manslaughter, but the prosecution would agree to nothing less than second-degree murder and a minimum sentence of 25 years. The lawyers gave respondent advice about the different sentences which could be imposed for the different offenses, but, as the District Court found, did not explain the required element of intent.
On June 8, 1965, respondent appeared in court with his attorneys and entered a plea of guilty to murder in the second degree in full satisfaction of the first-degree murder charge made in the indictment. In direct colloquy with the trial judge respondent stated that his plea was based on the advice of his attorneys, that he understood he was accused оf killing Mrs. Francisco in Fulton County, that he was waiving his right to a jury trial, and that he would be sent to prison. There was no discussion of the elements of the offense of second-de-
At the sentencing hearing a week later his lawyers made a statement explaining his version of the offense, particularly noting that respondent “meant no harm to that lady” when he entered her room with the knife.11 The prosecutor disputed defense counsel‘s version of the matter, but did not discuss it in detail. After studying the probation officer‘s report, the trial judge pronounced sentence.
At the evidentiary hearing in the Federal District Court, respondent testified that he would not have pleaded guilty if he had known that an intent to cause
II
Petitioner contends that the District Court applied an unrealistically rigid rule of law. Instead of testing the voluntariness of a plea by determining whether a ritualistic litany of the formal legal elements of an offense was read to the defendant, petitioner argues that the court should examine the totality of the circumstances and determine whether the substance of the charge, as opposed to its technical elements, was conveyed to the accused. Wе do not disagree with the thrust of petitioner‘s argument, but we are persuaded that even under the test which he espouses, this judgment finding respondent guilty of second-degree murder was defective.
We assume, as petitioner argues, that the prosecutor had overwhelming evidence of guilt available. We also accept petitioner‘s characterization of the competence of respondent‘s counsel and of the wisdom of their advice to plead guilty to a charge of second-degree murder. Nevertheless, such a plea cannot support a judgment of
The charge of second-degree murder was never formally made. Had it been made, it necessarily would have included a charge that respondent‘s assault was “committed with a design to effect the death of the person killed.”14 That element of the offense might have been proved by the objective evidence even if respondent‘s actual state of mind was consistent with innocence15 or manslaughter.16 But even if such a design to effect death would almost inevitably have been inferred from evidence that respondent repeatedly stabbed Mrs. Francisco, it is nevertheless also true that a jury
There is nothing in this record that can serve as a substitute for either a finding after trial, or a voluntary admission, that respondent had the requisite intent. Defense counsel did not purport to stipulate to that fact; they did not explain to him that his plea would be an admission of that fact; and he made no factual statement or admission necessarily implying that he had such intent. In these circumstances it is impossible to conclude that his plea to the unexplained charge of second-degree murder wаs voluntary.
Petitioner argues that affirmance of the Court of Appeals will invite countless collateral attacks on judgments entered on pleas of guilty, since frequently the record will not contain a complete enumeration of the
Normally the record contains either an explanation of the charge by the trial judge, or at least a representation by defense counsel that the nature of the offense has been explained to the accused. Moreover, even without such an express representation, it may be appropriate to presume that in most cases defense counsel routinely explain the nature of the оffense in sufficient detail to give the accused notice of what he is being asked to admit. This case is unique because the trial judge found as a fact that the element of intent was not explained to respondent. Moreover, respondent‘s unusually low mental capacity provides a reasonable explanation for counsel‘s oversight; it also forecloses the conclusion that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, for it lends at least a modicum of credibility to defense counsel‘s appraisal of the homicide as a manslaughter rather than a murder.
Since respondent did not receive adequate notice of the offense to which he pleaded guilty, his plea was involuntary and the judgment of conviсtion was entered without due process of law.
Affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE WHITE, with whom MR. JUSTICE STEWART, MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN, and MR. JUSTICE POWELL join, concurring.
There are essentially two ways under our system of criminal justice in which the factual guilt of a defendant may be established such that he may be deprived of his
In this case the defendant‘s factual guilt of second-degree murder has never been established in any fashion permitted by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The dissent concedes that the conviction in this case was entered in violation of the United States Constitu-
MR. JUSTICE REHNQUIST, with whom THE CHIEF JUSTICE joins, dissenting.
The Court‘s opinion affirms a judgment which directs the release on federal habeas of a state prisoner who, on advice of counsel, pleaded guilty in the New York State courts 11 years ago to a charge of second-degree murder. The Court declares its agreement with petitioner‘s contention that the test for reviewing the constitutional validity of a counseled plea of guilty should be “the totality of the circumstances,” ante, at 644. But the Court‘s holding can be justified only if the Constitution requires that “a ritualistic litany of the formal legal elements of an offense [be] read to the defendant,” ibid., a requirement which it purports to eschew.1 The Court accomplishes this result by imposing on state courts, as a constitutional requirement, a definition of “voluntariness” announced by this Court in McCarthy v. United States, 394 U. S. 459 (1969), in which the Court interpreted a provision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Yet that case has been held to have only prospective application even as to the federal courts. Halliday v. United States, 394 U. S. 831 (1969).
McCarthy extended the definitiоn of voluntariness to include an “understanding of the essential elements of the crime charged, including the requirement of specific
“Out of just consideration for persons accused of crime, courts are careful that a plea of guilty shall not be accepted unless made voluntarily after proper advice and with full understanding of the consequences.” 368 U. S., at 493, quoting Kercheval, supra, at 223.
These cases thus set forth a three-pronged test: The plea of guilty must be made voluntarily, it must be made after proper advice, and it must be made with full understanding of the consequences. There can be no doubt that respondent entered his plea “with full understanding of the consequences” because the District Court expressly so found. Nor can there be any serious doubt that respondent‘s plea was made “voluntarily” as that term is used in Machibroda and the previous cases upon which it relies.
There was no contention in the federal habeas court that respondent‘s guilty plea was not “voluntary” in the normal sense of that word. There was no hint of physical or psychological coercion, and respondent was represented by not one but two admittedly capable defense attorneys. While McCarthy v. United States, supra, at 471, expands the notion of “voluntariness” to include the concept that a defendant must have an “understanding
A perusal of cases in the Courts of Appeals decided before McCarthy, supra, and Boykin, supra, indicates that, at least in the case where the defendant is counseled, there was no requirement that every element of the offense be explained to or admitted by the defendant2 or even in every case that the consequences of the plea be enunciated. E. g., United States v. Cariola, 323 F. 2d 180 (CA3 1963); McGrady v. Cunningham, 296 F. 2d 600 (CA4 1961), cert. denied, 369 U. S. 855 (1962); Kennedy v. United States, 259 F. 2d 883 (CA5 1958), cert. denied, 359 U. S. 994 (1959); United States v. Swaggerty, 218 F. 2d 875 (CA7), cert. denied, 349 U. S. 959 (1955); see discussion in Halliday, supra, at 833. Thus, unless the Court intends to establish a new and far more stringent standard for all guilty pleas entered before the 1969 decisions of this Court in Boykin and McCarthy, respondent‘s plea was “voluntary” as that term was understood before thе decisions in those cases.3
But the Court refers to “voluntary in a constitutional sense” stating that the term includes the requirement of “‘real notice of the true nature of the . . . charge,‘” ante, at 645, citing the pre-Boykin case of Smith v. O‘Grady, 312 U. S. 329 (1941). Smith involved an “uneducated” defendant “without counsel, bewildered by court processes strange and unfamiliar to him, and inveigled by false statements of state law enforcement officers into entering a plea of guilty.” Id., at 334. The Court further observed that Smith‘s plea was involuntary because he had not received any “real notice of the true nature of the charge against him.” Ibid. That is, he was told he was pleading to “simple burglary” and would receive a 3-year sentence when in fact he was tricked into pleading to “burglary with explosives” and was sentenced to 20 years. Thus the “notice” required by Smith is accurate information as to the offense and sentence to which one is pleading, which respondent received.
Since it seems clear under the foregoing analysis that respondent‘s plea was “voluntarily made,” and since it is undisputed that it was made with full understanding of its consequences, the only remaining issue is whether he was “properly advised,” as that term is used in Machibroda, supra. This inquiry, in turn, depends upon the sort of advice reasonably competent counsel would have been expected to give him, see Brady v. United States, 397 U. S. 742, 756-757 (1970), and McMann v. Richardson, 397 U. S. 759, 770 (1970). Thus the test
The Court states that it “accept[s] petitioner‘s characterization of the competence of respondent‘s counsel and of the wisdom of their advice to plead guilty to a charge of second-degree murder.” Ante, at 644.
In McMann, supra, the Court held that the requirement that a guilty plea be intelligently made “is not a requirement that all advice offered by the defendant‘s lawyer withstand retrospective examination in a post-conviction hearing.” 397 U. S., at 770. In this case, counsel advised their client as to the penalty for second-degree murder but did not go into “detail” as to the differences between first- and second-degree murder, believing that their client would not be interested. App. 57a. Now, 11 years later, this Court concludes that counsel‘s decision was an error of constitutional magnitude.
Respondent was originally indicted for the crime of first-degree murder, and that indictment charged that in April 1965, he had “willfully, feloniously and of malice aforethought, stabbed and cut Ada Francisco with a dangerous knife . . . and that thereafter . . . the said Ada Francisco died of said wounds and injuries, said killing being inexcusable and unjustifiable.” Id., at 85a. Respondent‘s attorney at the habeas hearing testified that respondent had stabbed his victim “many times” (id., at 67a), which suggests that experienced counsel would not consider the “design to effect death” issue to be in serious dispute. The habeas judge, in deciding that there was a
“The Court: Well the intent, I think there is a factual basis from the evidence where it, that is the jury would have a right to infer on the mere fact, I think when he hit her first and then used the knife, that there were multiple knife wounds, that the jury could infer, and as a matter of fact, I think from those same facts the Judge would have to permit the jury to decide as a question of fact whether there was premeditation on first degree murder, so that this man was a long way short of being out of the woods.
“So I am satisfied that there was a factual basis for the entry of the plea.” Id., at 78a.
I do not see how this Court, or any court, could conclude on this state of thе record that respondent was not “properly advised” at the time he entered his plea of guilty to the charge of second-degree murder.
His attorneys were motivated by the eminently reasonable tactical judgment on their part that he should plead guilty to second-degree murder in order to avoid the possibility of conviction for first-degree murder with its more serious attendant penalties. Since the Court concedes both the competence of respondent‘s counsel and the wisdom of their advice, that should be the end of the matter.
There are intimations in the Court‘s opinion that the vice which it finds in the guilty plea is not that respondent was not informed of all the elements of the offense, but that instead he did not admit to all of those elements. Ante, at 646. But it is quite clear under our decision in North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U. S. 25 (1970), that the latter fact, standing alоne, is not sufficient to invalidate a guilty plea. In Alford the defend-
Thus the fact, relied upon by the Court, ante, at 645-646, that a jury would not have been required to infer the requisite intent from the facts admitted at the guilty plea is not significant. Alford, at his guilty plea, presented a complete defense to the crime by stating that he had not shot anyone. 400 U. S., at 28 n. 2. Respondent admitted the stabbing but made no statement as to his intent. Even if he had denied the intent, this plea would be valid under Alford.
The “totality of the circumstances” in this case shows that respondent pleaded guilty to second-degree murder upon the advice of competent counsel. His plea was in no way the result of physical or psychological coercion or overreaching by the State, and he was fully advised as to the consequences of that plea. True, he was not expressly advised that the “design to effect death” was an element of the offense to which he was pleading, although the original first-degree-murder indictment charging “malice aforethought” had been read to him. Given the finding of the habeas judge that there was more than ample evidence from which the jury could have found that respondent had the requisite intent, I cannot subscribe to the Court‘s invalidation of his pre-1969 guilty plea for such an extremely technical defect.
Notes
“[W]hile most pleas of guilty consist of both a waiver of trial and an express admission of guilt, the latter element is not a constitutional requisite to the imposition of criminal penalty. An individual accused of crime may voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly consent to the imposition of a prison sentence evеn if he is unwilling or unable to admit his participation in the acts constituting the crime.”
We held that where “a defendant intelligently concludes that his interests require entry of a guilty plea and the record before the judge contains strong evidence of actual guilt” a plea may be accepted even if accompanied by protestations of innocence. Ibid. (Emphasis added.) However, in that case the defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after acknowledging that his “counsel had informed him of the difference between second- and first-degree murder.” Id., at 28-29. Alford is based on the fact that the defendant could intelligently have concluded that, whether he believed himself to be innocent and whether he could bring himself to admit guilt or not, the State‘s case against him was so strong that he would have been convicted anyway. Since such a defendant has every incentive to conclude otherwise, such a decision made after consultation with counsel is viewed as a sufficiently reliable substitute for a jury verdict that a judgment may be entered against the defendant. Plainly, a defendant cannot “intelligently” reach that conclusion if he does not know the elements of the crime to which he is pleading and therefore does not know what the State has to prove; and his ignorant decision to plead guilty under such circumstances is not a reliable indication that he is in fact guilty.
Admittedly the Court does not require that this litany be performed on the record, but the requirement that it be performed at some point in the proceedings, whether by counsel or by the court, is clear.“The Court: I inferred that he struck her, not cut her, didn‘t use the knife?
“The Witness: Not at first. She didn‘t stop screaming and then he used the knife many times. He didn‘t tell me that, but the allegation was that he hit her forty-five times with the knife.” (Emphasis added.) App. 67a.
Apart from that hearsay, there is no evidence in the record to indicate whether the respondent struck or stabbed Mrs. Francisco many times. The indictment charged that respondent “stabbed and cut Ada Francisco with a dangerous knife, thereby inflicting divers wounds and injuries. . . .” Id., at 85a.
“He awakened Mrs. Francisco for the purpose of obtaining the money which was rightfully his, and which he had a right to. Of course it was an unusual hour to do it, but he had returned home late, and he had been threatened with that other thing on the part of Mrs. Francisco of returning him to the Rome School. So I assume, putting all of those factors together, the one idea in his mind was to take his money and get away as far as he could to avoid being transferred back.
“Now, Mrs. Francisco was awakened. Apparently he had stayed there in the house, and she had no fear of him because her bedroom was open. There was no door on it. No locks at all. So when he awakened her, instead of responding to him, she merely started to scream. Now, I assume if she had talked to him that night in a normal tone, this thing would never have happened. But the minute she screamed, of course with his uncontrollable and ungovernable temper, and the idea in mind of perhaps she may awaken the people who were living in the other apartment of the house—there was a man and his wife who were working there for Mrs. Francisco and living in the house—in order to stop the screаming and in the excitement and tension of it all, the assault occurred and as a result Mrs. Francisco met her death.” Record on Appeal 32-33.