State v. Cutler

¶1The defendant pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell or dispense in violation of Public Acts 1974, No. 74-332 § 2 (b),1 and was sentenced to a term of *703imprisonment of not less than two nor more than five years. In his appeal from this judgment the defendant claims that the trial court erred in accepting his guilty plea because the factual basis to which he assented at the time he entered the plea was insufficient to render the plea knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.

¶2In its finding the trial court2 concluded that the defendant’s guilty plea was entered “voluntarily, intelligently and knowingly, with a sufficient factual basis.” The trial court’s conclusions are tested by the finding, and a conclusion cannot stand if it is legally or logically inconsistent with the facts found or if it involves some erroneous rule of law applicable to the case. Winchester v. Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations, 175 Conn. 349, 353, 402 A.2d 332 (1978); Johnston Jewels, Ltd. v. Leonard, 156 Conn. 75, 79, 239 A.2d 500 (1968). We find that the conclusion of the trial court cannot stand.

¶3If the record does not affirmatively disclose that a defendant entered a guilty plea knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily, the plea is not constitutionally valid. Henderson v. Morgan, 426 U.S. 637, 96 S. Ct. 2253, 49 L. Ed. 2d 108 (1976); Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242, 89 S. Ct. 1709, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274 (1969); State v. Marra, 174 Conn. 338, 340, 387 A.2d 550 (1978); see also State v. Collins, 176 Conn. 7, 9, 404 A.2d 871 (1978); Blue v. Robin*704son, 173 Conn. 360, 379, 377 A.2d 1108 (1977) (dissenting opinion, Speziale, J.); note, 9 Conn. L. Rev. 483, 487 (1977); cf. Practice Book, 1978, § 713.

¶4The factual basis for the plea contained in the finding is essentially that the defendant and four others were in a house when undercover agents, as a result of a joint investigation by the United States Department of Justice and the state police, entered the premises and arrested “all the subject [s].” The court also found that “Cutler substantially agreed with the recitation of facts.” A review of the transcript shows that the facts to which Cutler agreed at the time the plea was entered do not reveal all the elements of the crime charged.3 More specifically, they do not reveal *705either the element of possession or the element of intent to sell or dispense. The plea, therefore, was not supported by a factual basis and, thus, was not knowingly and intelligently made. State v. Marra, supra, 340, 345; see also State v. Battle, 170 Conn. 469, 472, 365 A.2d 1100 (1976). The contrary conclusion by the trial court is inconsistent with the facts found and cannot stand.

¶5There is error, the judgment is set aside and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.