Withdrawing Guilty Plea
To be valid, the federal constitution provides that a guilty plea must be made voluntarily, intelligently, and knowingly. To secure this constitutional guarantee, a guilty plea cannot be entered unless a judge first advises a defendant of his or her constitutional rights to be appointed counsel, if indigent; to a jury trial; to call and confront witnesses; and to exercise his or right against self-incrimination. The defendant must waive these rights before entering a valid guilty plea.
The judge must also inform a defendant of the direct consequences of pleading guilty including the maximum sentence to be imposed, the maximum parole (state) or supervised release (federal) period served following completion of a prison term; immigration consequences such as deportation or exclusion, the mandatory revocation of driving privileges, and all fines, penalties and assessments including any applicable laboratory fees.
Once a guilty plea is entered it can be very difficult to withdraw. In an ordinary case, the only way to withdraw a guilty plea is to file a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus alleging that the defendant’s plea was not made voluntarily, intelligently, and knowingly thereby violating the federal constitution. This can be shown be proving the defendant was neither advised nor waived his or her constitutional rights, was never advised of the direct consequences of his or her guilty plea, or by showing, that either defense counsel or the prosecution induced the guilty plea with faulty information.
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