Pennsylvania v. Hvizda (majority)
Annotate this CaseThis appeal was a companion case with "Pennsylvania v. Carrasquillo." The issue presented centered on whether a common pleas court was required to permit withdrawal of a guilty plea, upon the defendant-appellee's assertion of innocence. Appellee stabbed his estranged wife, Kimberly, to death. He immediately surrendered to police and confessed. Subsequently, he pled guilty to first-degree murder and possession of an instrument of crime. In exchange for the plea, the Commonwealth was to recommend that Appellee would receive the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for first-degree murder and a consecutive term of incarceration pertaining to the possessory offense. Just over two months later, when Appellee appeared for sentencing, he advised the court that he wished to withdraw his plea. In "Carrasquillo," the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that a bare assertion of innocence (such as Appellee provided as the basis for withdrawing his guilty plea) was not, in and of itself, a sufficient reason to require a court to grant such a request. Accordingly, and for the reasons set forth more fully in that case, the common pleas court did not err in denying Appellee's withdrawal motion.
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