Cooper v. State

Thompson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Carson Floyd Cooper, the appellant, received a sentence for ten years for robbery after having entered a plea of guilty to the charge in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Judge Robert B. Mathias presiding. The plea was entered on January 17, 1968 and was accepted by the court after a thorough questioning of Cooper, personally, as to the voluntary char ⁶⁴⁰ acter of the plea and to his understanding of its nature and effect. While a pre-sentence investigation was pending, the trial judge received a letter on February 23, 1968 stating that Cooper wished to withdraw his guilty plea which he had previously entered.

At the time of sentencing on March 25, 1968 the trial judge referred to the letter, but Cooper explained that he was emotionally upset when he wrote the letter; that he still wished to plead guilty and requested that the court should proceed with the sentencing. The trial judge again satisfied himself that the plea was voluntary and that Cooper understood the nature of the charge and the consequences of his plea. On appeal Cooper concedes that his plea was voluntary but argues in view of his limited seventh grade education that he did not understand the effect of the plea insofar as it may have waived certain constitutional rights pertaining to an alleged illegal search and seizure which may have “strengthened the case for the state.” He alleges that such a waiver could not be knowingly and intelligently made by a person of his lack of education. The Court of Appeals in James v. State, 242 Md. 424 , 219 A. 2d 17 and this Court in Wayne v. State, 4 Md. App. 424, 243 A. 2d 19 and the recent case of Duvall v. State, 5 Md. App. 484 , have followed the rule that the record must affirmatively show that the plea was voluntary and that the defendant understood the nature and effect of his plea.

Neither the Court of Appeals nor this Court has gone so far as to require that the defendant must be in a position to write a treatise on what constitutional rights are waived by a plea of guilty before his plea can be accepted by the trial judge. This record indicates that Cooper was 33 years of age; attended school through the seventh grade; could read and write; had received a copy of the