Brown v. State
Annotate this CaseThe court granted petitioner a certificate of probable cause to appeal the denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus in order to determine whether the record of petitioner's guilty plea established that he affirmatively waived his constitutional rights under Boykin v. Alabama. The court concluded that the record showed undisputedly that the trial court did not fully inform petitioner of his Boykin rights on the record during the plea hearing. Moreover, the statement by petitioner's counsel at the hearing in which counsel acknowledged having advised petitioner of his legal and constitutional rights was not, in and of itself, sufficient to establish that petitioner had been informed of his Boykin rights. However, contrary to petitioner's contention, the habeas court did not err by relying on the waiver of rights form signed by petitioner. Therefore, the court rejected petitioner's argument that the waiver of rights form he signed could not serve as "some affirmative evidence that either the trial court or trial counsel entered into a colloquy with defendant and explained all three of his Boykin rights." The court found no merit in the argument that petitioner was not advised of his right against self-incrimination because the waiver of rights form wording did not make it clear that it was referring to the right to remain silent at trial. Petitioner was not entitled to grant of habeas relief based upon the trial court's failure to establish on the record a factual basis for petitioner's guilty plea and the habeas court did not err by denying petitioner's petition.
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