Opinion

State v. Trott

  • 338 N.W.2d 248
  • 1983 Minn. LEXIS 1294
Court
Supreme Court of Minnesota
Filed
Sep 16, 1983
Status
Published
Author
Amdahl
On the bench
Kelley, Amdahl, Scott
Cited by
136 cases

holding that plea colloquy, complaint, and photographs of the victim’s injuries established a sufficient factual basis because the “defendant, by his plea of guilty, in effect judicially admitted the allegations contained in the complaint.”

How later courts described this case

  • holding that plea colloquy, complaint, and photographs of the victim’s injuries established a sufficient factual basis because the “defendant, by his plea of guilty, in effect judicially admitted the allegations contained in the complaint.”
  • concluding that a defendant’s plea had a sufficient factual basis because, in part, the record contained a copy of the complaint, and the defendant in effect judicially admitted to the allegations in the complaint by pleading guilty
  • stating that the defendant’s assertion that defense counsel promised him probation was negated by the record and that “[c]learly, therefore, the trial court was justified in finding that no such promise had been made
  • stating that “[o]ther possible benefits of the accuracy requirement include assisting the court in determining whether the plea is intelligently entered and facilitating the rehabilitation of 6 the defendant”

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

AMDAHL, Chief Justice

(dissenting).

I respectfully dissent.

The record establishes that it was not until the day of sentencing that the court, the prosecutor, and defense counsel became aware that a mandatory minimum executed 21-month sentence was the required sentence. None of them was aware at the time of the plea of the existence of such a fact and all of them believed that the presumptive sentence was 21 months stayed.

The record also establishes that at the time he entered his plea, the defendant knew that he could be sentenced to a maximum term of 5 years and that he had been told by his counsel that probation was likely and that he had not been informed that the mandatory minimum law was applicable and that it mandated execution of the sentence.

Under such circumstances, I cannot agree that his plea was intelligently entered and would hold that he should be permitted to withdraw his guilty plea and stand trial, whether or not it is true, as the majority opinion indicates, that “a trial would most assuredly result in the same disposition.”

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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