Williams-Bey v. State

51 N.E.3d 1261

Vorice WILLIAMS–BEY, Appellant–Petitioner

v.STATE of Indiana, Appellee–Respondent.

No. 20A03–1508–PC–1173.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

March 28, 2016.

Stephen T. Owens, Public Defender of Indiana, William D. Polansky, Deputy Public Defender, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.

Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, J.T. Whitehead, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

BAILEY, Judge.

Case Summary

[1] Vorice Williams–Bey (“Williams”) pled guilty to Escape, as a Class B felony,¹ and was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, with five years suspended to probation. He subsequently sought post-conviction relief, which was denied. Williams now appeals.

[2] We reverse and remand for further proceedings.²

Issue

[3] Williams presents several issues for our review, one of which we find dispositive: whether the post-conviction court erred when it concluded that Williams did not protest his innocence as to infliction of injury during the guilty plea hearing.

Facts and Procedural History

[4] On May 5, 2011, Williams was placed under arrest and was taken to an Elkhart hospital to be checked for injuries. While being escorted to a police squad car, Williams fled on foot from police and re-entered the hospital. A police detective, Crystal Garcia (“Detective Garcia”), located Williams in a hospital stairwell and attempted to apprehend him by grabbing Williams's jacket from behind. Detective Garcia managed to grab hold of the jacket, and her hand was injured in the process. Williams, however, got away from Detective Garcia and was eventually caught by other officers.

[5] Williams was charged with Escape, elevated to a Class B felony because of Detective Garcia's injury, and a number of other offenses. After charges were filed, Williams was represented by an attorney from the public defender's office. Williams became dissatisfied with the attorney's representation, however, and on October 29, 2012 he submitted a handwritten “Notice of Entry of Appearance,” requesting permission to represent himself. This notice was sent by the court to both the prosecutor and Williams's defense attorney, but no hearing was held on Williams's request.

[6] On January 28, 2013, Williams, still represented by a public defender, entered into a plea agreement under which he pled guilty to Escape, as a Class B felony. Also pursuant to the plea agreement, the State dismissed charges of Battery and Resisting Law Enforcement, as Class A misdemeanors, as well as charges in another case. At the guilty plea hearing, Williams admitted fleeing from police custody and admitted that Detective Garcia was injured when she grabbed his coat, but repeatedly denied having intended Detective Garcia's injury or of knowing of her injury until after he was apprehended. However, Williams acknowledged that he understood himself to be pleading guilty, and the trial court accepted his guilty plea. On February 28, 2013, Williams was sentenced to a prison term of ten years, and a number of charges against him were dismissed.

[7] On January 17, 2014, Williams filed a petition for post-conviction relief, requesting representation from the office of the Indiana State Public Defender, which accepted Williams's request. Represented by the State Public Defender, Williams sought to have his conviction for Escape vacated on three bases. First, Williams challenged the voluntariness of his guilty plea, arguing that though he admitted to having fled from police custody, his statements concerning the cause of Detective Garcia's injury amounted to a protestation of innocence precluding acceptance of his guilty plea. Second, Williams contended that the trial court did not follow proper procedures when it failed to conduct a hearing on his request to represent himself at trial, a hearing required by U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and thus his conviction was invalid. Third, Williams argued that the trial court's failure to conduct a hearing and grant his request to represent himself deprived him of his constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel.

[8] On April 24, 2015, the post-conviction court conducted a hearing on Williams's petition, during which Williams and his public defender from the trial court testified. On July 24, 2015, the post-conviction court denied Williams's petition for post-conviction relief.

[9] This appeal followed.³

Discussion and Decision

Standard of Review

[10] Our standard of review upon an appeal from a post-conviction proceeding is well settled:

Post-conviction proceedings do not grant a petitioner a “super-appeal” but are limited to those issues available under the Indiana Post–Conviction Rules. Timberlake v. State, 753 N.E.2d 591, 597 (Ind.2001) (citing Ind. Post–Conviction Rule 1(1) ). Post-conviction proceedings are civil in nature, and petitioners bear the burden of proving their grounds for relief by a preponderance of the evidence. Ind. Post–Conviction Rule 1(5). A petitioner who appeals the denial of PCR faces a rigorous standard of review, as the reviewing court may consider only the evidence and the reasonable inferences supporting the judgment of the post-conviction court. Kien v. State, 866 N.E.2d 377, 381 (Ind.Ct.App.2007), trans. denied. The appellate court must accept the post-conviction court's findings of fact and may reverse only if the findings are clearly erroneous. Bahm v. State, 789 N.E.2d 50, 57 (Ind.Ct.App.2003), trans. denied. If a PCR petitioner was denied relief, he or she must show that the evidence as a whole leads unerringly and unmistakably to an opposite conclusion than that reached by the post-conviction court. Ivy v. State, 861 N.E.2d 1242, 1244 (Ind.Ct.App.2007), trans. denied.

Roberts v. State, 953 N.E.2d 559, 562–63 (Ind.Ct.App.2011), trans. denied.

Plea Agreement

[11] Williams contends that the post-conviction court erred when it found that he entered into the plea agreement voluntarily even though he protested his innocence of an element of the enhanced offense of Escape, as a Class B felony, at the change-of-plea hearing.

[12] Where, as here, a petitioner seeks post-conviction relief on the ground that a plea was entered on bad legal advice or involuntarily, it is immaterial whether the petitioner bases his claim on ineffectiveness of counsel or involuntariness of the plea. Willoughby v. State, 792 N.E.2d 560, 563 (Ind.Ct.App.2003), trans. denied.

In either case, a petitioner must establish that his decision to enter a plea was influenced by counsel's error. Id. (citing Segura v. State, 749 N.E.2d 496, 504 (Ind.2001) ). “ ‘However, if the post-conviction court finds that the petitioner would have pleaded guilty even if competently advised as to the penal consequences, the error in advice is immaterial to the decision to plead and there is no prejudice.’ ” Id.

[13] As this Court has observed, “there is a legal distinction between a claim that a guilty plea was entered without an adequate factual basis and a claim that it was entered by one who was, at the same time, protesting his innocence.” Wingham v. State, 780 N.E.2d 1164, 1164 (Ind.Ct.App.2002). The Indiana Supreme Court held in Harshman v. State,

a plea of guilty tendered by one who in the same breath protests his innocence, or declares he actually does not know whether or not he is guilty, is no plea at all. Certainly it is not a sufficient plea upon which to base a judgment of conviction. No plea of guilty should be accepted when it appears to be doubtful whether it is being intelligently and understandingly made, or when it appears that, for any reason, the plea is wholly inconsistent with the realities of the situation.

232 Ind. 618, 621, 115 N.E.2d 501, 502 (1953). “A judge may not accept a plea of guilty when the defendant both pleads guilty and maintains his innocence at the same time. To accept such a plea constitutes reversible error.” Ross v. State, 456 N.E.2d 420, 423 (Ind.1983).

[14] Williams does not assert that he entered a strategic plea wherein he clearly pled guilty while maintaining his innocence in all respects. Rather, Williams contends that he pled guilty not to Escape, as a Class B felony, but only to the unenhanced offense of Escape, as a Class C felony, and that he protested his innocence as to the element that enhanced the offense to a Class B felony. The crime of Escape, as a Class B felony, was defined at the time of Williams's offense as follows: “A person ... who intentionally flees from lawful detention commits escape, a Class C felony. However, the offense is a Class B felony if, while committing it, the person draws or uses a deadly weapon or inflicts bodily injury on another person.” I.C. § 35–44.1–3–4(a) (West 2012).

[15] Williams admits that he intentionally fled from a lawful detention. (Ex. 1 at 22.) However, in arguing that he maintained his innocence of the Class B felony for which he pled guilty and was convicted, Williams draws our attention specifically to the following exchanges in the transcript of the guilty plea hearing:

[COUNSEL]: Right. And during the course of your attempting to break away from [Detective Garcia], she got her hand caught up in your coat. Is that correct, sir?

[WILLIAMS]: Yes, she did.

[COUNSEL]: Well, that's what I mean. She got her hand—

[WILLIAMS]: Just making it clear.

[COUNSEL]: Okay. She got her had caught up in your coat while she was attempting to apprehend you. Is that correct?

[WILLIAMS]: Yes. Yes.

[COUNSEL]: Yes. During the course of that period of time did she suffer—you later learned that she suffered some pain to her hand as a result of her getting her hand caught up in your coat. Is that correct, sir?

(Ex. 1 at 23–24.) After this examination by trial counsel, the State inquired:

[STATE]: Okay. Inflicting bodily injury on [Detective Garcia]. Is that correct?

[WILLIAMS]: That she had got harmed in the process of this happening, yes.

(Ex. 1 at 25.)

[16] Williams contends that this was sufficient to constitute a denial that he had inflicted injury on...