State v. OrtaState v. Orta
OPINION
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Erica L. Orta, appeals the September 1, 2005 judgment of the Court of Common Pleas, Defiance County, Ohio. In this appeal, Orta claims that the trial court erred in denying her motion to withdraw her guilty plea to the indicted charge of murder in violation of
{¶ 2} Orta was initially charged in a seven-count indictment on October 7, 2004. The indictеd charges stemmed from an incident that occurred on August 31, 2004, a few days after she had been released from jail. According to the facts submitted on the record at the initial plea hearing, which were based on Orta‘s statement to the police, Orta аnd a co-defendant, Joseph Williams, conspired to murder Orta‘s mother, Diane Atkin. Orta and Williams planned the murder in Lima, Ohio late in the evening on August 30th, and drove from Lima to the victim‘s home in Defiance County. On the way to Defiance, Orta and Williams stopped at a 24-hоur supermarket and purchased a roll of duct tape. When they arrived at the victim‘s home, they sat down at the kitchen table and exchanged words with the victim. Orta claimed to have had a very contentious relationship with her mother, and at some point during this exchange she became enraged. She leapt over the table and strangled her mother to death.
{¶ 3} After her mother was dead, Orta took several pieces of jewelry off of the body, then she and Williams used the duct tape to bind the legs together, dragged the victim from the house, and placed her in the trunk of her own car. Orta then drove her mother‘s vehicle from the residence, ostensibly in order to make it look like the victim had left the home and gone out of town. Williams followed her in the car thеy had used to drive up to Defiance, and the defendants returned back to Lima. They abandoned the victim‘s vehicle, with the body still in the trunk, in the City of Lima, Ohio.
{¶ 4} After the victim was later reported missing, the vehicle was located and her body was found and identified. The cornеr‘s report showed that the victim died of asphyxiation due to strangulation. An investigation led police to Orta, who was found wearing the victim‘s jewelry. During interrogation, Orta confessed to the murder and to having abandoned the vehicle with the body in the trunk of the car.
{¶ 5} Ortа initially pled not guilty to the charges contained in the indictment, which included aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, tapering with evidence, grand theft of a motor vehicle, and theft. However, after plea negotiations Orta plеd guilty to the second indicted charge, murder in violation of
{¶ 6} The trial court accepted the guilty plea at the hearing held on November 1, 2004 after conducting a colloquy with the defendant and informing her of the rights she was waiving by pleading guilty. The trial court determined that the plea was voluntarily given, and that Orta understood the nature of the charges and the potential punishment she faced. The court informed Orta that there was only one available punishment: fifteen years to life imprisonment pursuant to
{¶ 7} Prior to the sentencing hearing, however, Orta sent a letter to the court asking to withdraw her guilty plea. Her counsel then filed a motion to withdraw as counsel, and new counsel was appointed. Thereafter, additiоnal counsel was appointed to serve as co-counsel.
{¶ 8} A hearing was held on February 17, 2005 in which the trial court noted that Orta had indicated a desire to withdraw her plea, but that no motion to withdraw had been filed. When asked whether a motion to withdraw the guilty plea would be filed, Orta‘s new counsel indicated that after discussions with his client, Orta had indicated to him that she did not wish to withdraw her previous plea. At that point, the trial court again indicated to Orta on the record that there was only one availablе sentence, fifteen years to life imprisonment. However, the court continued the matter so that a pre-sentence investigation report could be filed which would be available for subsequent parole hearings.
{¶ 9} Prior to the sentencing hearing, however, Orta was asked to testify against her co-defendant pursuant to the original plea agreement. However, at a March 11, 2005 hearing before the court, Orta was sworn in as a witness and took the stand. The prosecutor then asked Orta if she was willing to testify against Williams. At this point, Orta indicated on the record that she was invoking her right not to incriminate herself under the
{¶ 10} Now faced with having pled to murder аnd having the additional charges still pending against her, Orta wrote a second letter to the trial court requesting to withdraw her guilty plea. A hearing was held on March 31, 2005, Orta orally moved to withdraw her guilty plea. Orta‘s counsel, however, indicated on the record that they did not feel there was a factual and legal basis which supported Orta‘s motion, and were given leave to withdraw as counsel. The trial court overruled the motion to withdraw her plea, and proceeded to sentencing. Pursuant to
The trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant‘s motion to withdraw her guilty plea when the guilty plea violated Criminal Rule 11 and the
{¶ 11} In this assignment of error, Orta makes two arguments. First, she argues that she should have been permitted to withdraw her plea prior to sentencing pursuant to
{¶ 12} With regards to Orta‘s attempt to withdraw her guilty plea,
{¶ 13} Ohio courts have laid out several factors to consider in reviewing a trial court‘s determination of whether there is a reasonable and legitimate basis for withdrawing a plea. These factors include: (1) whether the withdrawal will prejudice the state, (2) the representation afforded to the defendant by counsel, (3) the extent of the hearing held pursuant to
{¶ 14} Upon consideration of those factors, and while we note there would be little prejudice to thе state in permitting Orta to withdraw her plea, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in denying Orta‘s motion to withdraw. First, Orta was provided three separate attorneys to represent her, each of whom recommended that she accept the plea bargain. There is absolutely no evidence that her counsel did not zealously represent her interests, and Orta admitted at the change in plea hearing that she was satisfied with her counsel‘s representation. Moreover, in light of the fаct that Orta confessed to the murder charge, there was ample justification to counsel Orta to plea to murder in exchange for dropping the remaining charges.
{¶ 15} Second, the trial court conducted a thorough colloquy pursuant to
{¶ 16} Third, although no formal motion had been filed, Orta was permitted to verbally address the court and explain her reasons for wanting to withdraw her plea — that she “thought that the first plea bargain was going to be the best one that [she] could possibly get [and she] was scared into taking it.” The court gave full consideration her stated reasons; however, due to the fact that Orta had twice knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently indicated to the court that she was aware of the nature of the charges and the potential punishment, the court chose not to accept her stated rationale.
{¶ 17} Fourth, her statеd reasons for seeking to withdraw her plea are unpersuasive, and there was strong evidence that Orta was in fact guilty and lacked a complete defense to the charge. Orta fully confessed her crimes to the police, admitting her guilt. It is apрarent both from her stated rationale at the hearing and from her letter to the court that Orta‘s sole goal was to minimize her sentence; she never once asserted her innocence or claimed that she was unduly pressured into acceрting the plea bargain. Rather, it is much more likely that she sought to withdraw the plea simply because she failed to fulfill the conditions of her bargain by refusing to testify against her co-defendant. Faced with having the remaining charges reinstated against her, Orta saw no tangible benefit to her previous guilty plea.
{¶ 18} Based on the foregoing, we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Orta‘s motion.
{¶ 19} We next address Orta‘s argument that the Blakely decision prohibits the trial judge in this case from imposing a sentence on her. As this Court has previously recognized, the Supreme Court in Blakely held that the “statutory maximum” punishment available is “the maximum sentence a judge may impose solely on the basis of the facts reflected in the jury verdict or admitted by the defendant.” Blakely, 542 U.S. at 303. Orta appears to contend that the Blakely decision requires a jury to make all of the necessary findings prior to sentenсing. For the reasons that follow, this assignment of error is not well taken.
{¶ 20} First, the statutory scheme in this case makes Orta susceptible to only one punishment: an indefinite prison term of fifteen years to life.
{¶ 21} Second, the Supreme Court of Ohio has interpreted Blakely and found various aspects of the Ohio‘s felony sentencing scheme unconstitutional. State v. Foster, Ohio St.3d, 2006-Ohio-856. It is important to note that
{¶ 22} Based on the foregоing, Orta‘s assignment of error is overruled. The judgment and sentence of the trial court is affirmed.
Judgment affirmed. Bryant, P.J., and Rogers, J., concur.