State v. Guity

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The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) on appeal and vacated the circuit court's order denying Appellant's oral motion to withdraw pleas in his global plea agreement to two criminal offenses, one charged in the family court and the other charged in the circuit court, holding that the circuit court should have allowed Appellant to withdraw both of his pleas.The criminal offense Appellant was charged with in the family court was legally impossible for him to have committed under the law in effect at the time of his plea. The circuit court denied Appellant's motion to withdraw his pleas in both cases and entered a sentence pursuant to the plea agreement. The ICA concluded that the circuit court should not have accepted Appellant's guilty plea to the charge in the family court case but found that Appellant's plea in the circuit court case was an otherwise valid plea. The Supreme Court held that because both of Appellant's pleas were encompassed in the global plea agreement and because the ICA correctly concluded that Appellant was entitled to withdraw his plea in the family court case, the ICA should have also held that Appellant was permitted to withdraw his plea in the circuit court case. View "State v. Guity" on Justia Law