A defendant must understand their plea before it can
be entered in front of the court. With juveniles, MCR 3.941(C) says “the court
shall tell the juvenile: the possible dispositions.” At a very basic level this
means that the defendant must understand the consequences of what will come as
a result of their plea. Also MCR 3.941(C) states “the court may not accept a
plea of admission or of no contest without establishing support for a finding
that the juvenile committed the offense: either by questioning the or by other
means when the plea is a plea of admission.” Someone may not plea guilty to
something if they cannot admit to doing some acts that would meet the elements
of the crime they are being charged with. In re Jackson, unpublished per
curiam opinion of the Court of Appeals, issued August 29, 2017 (Docket No331632). The defendant accepted a plea deal. The plea was for fourth-degree
criminal sexual conduct, the defendant attempted to withdraw his plea because
he was not informed properly of the dispositions and also there was
insufficient facts to convict of CSC-IV. Slip op at 1. The trial court denied
the withdrawal, but the Court of Appeals remanded this case for further
proceedings to determine on the record whether the defendant actually had to
use force to overcome the victim, which would provide sufficient factual basis
for the plea. Slip op at 6.
The
defendant must be aware of the possible dispositions, or consequences, that may
be faced. MCR 3.941(C). The trial court will make the defendant aware of the
dispositions by informing him, on the record, the possible outcomes associated
with the plea. The trial court here informed the defendant very vaguely of the possibilities,
“If you plead guilty and support those facts I’ll send you to a group of
sociologists, psychologists, educational experts and others... They would test
you in a variety of different ways... [I]f there were problems that I could not
fix in the home then I’ll pull you out of the home.” Slip op at 3. Nonetheless,
the Court of Appeals determined this to be sufficient to inform the juvenile of
the consequences that could come as a result of this plea “we are not convinced
that the trial court’s decision to deny respondent’s motion to withdraw his
plea fell outside the range of principled outcomes.” Slip op at 3. Although
vague, the trial court had sufficiently explained the possible outcomes to the
juvenile. As for the “possible dispositions,” the Court of Appeals affirmed.
The
factual basis that was provided on the record was not enough according to the
Court of Appeals. The factual basis must be able to be proven by all of the
elements. The fact that the contact element is proven is not sufficient to
provide a factual basis for the force or coercion element. “A factual basis to
support a plea can be established if an inculpatory inference could be drawn to
prove the underlying offense based on what respondent admits, even if an
exculpatory inference could also be drawn.” Slip op at 4. Just because someone
is touched does not mean that they were forced or coerced into that touching.
This is not an inference that can be made.
A
court must protect the juveniles in such a way to make sure they have full
understanding of the consequences, and that also the juveniles know what must
be proven against them to convict on the charges. Juveniles generally do not
have the basic knowledge of the legal system, which would allow them to truly
understand what was happening. This makes the defense attorney and the judge
especially important in these cases. The Judge and defense attorney need to
make sure they take extra time allowing the defendant to fully understand
everything that is happening, the juvenile understands what they are agreeing
to, and why they are doing so. In a case like this when the court accepts the
plea without providing a sufficient factual basis on the record it allows the
juvenile to plea when there is the possibility that the factual basis is not
actually proven allowing the juvenile to admit to a crime they may not have
committed.
Labels: juvenile, MCR 3.941(C), plea of admission, Sufficiency of Plea, Wayne County, withdraw a plea