![]() ![]() There’s a whole bunch of legal history here. The SCOV majority begins by noting that what we’re looking for to establish Rule 11 compliance is “an understanding by the defendant that the conduct admitted violates the law as explained to him by the court.” Without that, the kick misses the metaphorical goalposts and the plea’s no good. He argues that him saying “Yes” during the plea is ambiguous and not necessarily an admission to anything. The PCR court went for the State, reasoning that when the trial court asked Bridger whether the affidavits provided a factual basis for each of the elements of the charges, he said yes, and the court found a factual basis, that was enough.īridger appeals. Bridger moved for summary judgment arguing that he didn’t admit any facts and the plea colloquy was “unlawfully sparse.” The State, of course, opposed and said it was entitled to summary judgment. As we know, Rule 11 requires a factual basis for a plea. He got six to 20 years with concurrent lesser sentences on the transferred charges.Īfter five years or so in jail, Bridger filed a post-conviction relief (PCR) petition. Petitioner had an oral plea colloquy and signed a written waiver of his rights and restitution orders. The important thing to know here is that Rule 11 requires the trial court to satisfy itself that there is a factual basis for any plea.Īnthony Bridger pled (or “pleaded” if you want to write like nobody talks) guilty to sixteen counts of burglary (in case you want to know, SCOV uses “pled” as it should).There were a couple other burglary charges brought in for sentencing from other counties. If you don’t know what a colloquy is, it’s a lawyer-job-security word for “conversation.” The conversation is between a defendant and a judge usually, though sometimes the prosecutor chimes in to say what the government would expect to prove if the case went to trial. Ule 11 in the criminal world deals with plea colloquies. Editor’s note: This piece from the SCOV Law Blog is by SCOV Law editor Andrew Delaney. ![]()
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