People v. Davis

THE COURT.

This is an appeal from an order of the superior court of Shasta County denying the motion of the defendant to set aside the judgment of conviction of murder in the first degree entered against him upon his plea of guilty on January 20, 1921. No motion for a new trial was made by said defendant, nor was any appeal from said judgment taken by him, but on March 18, 1921, the defendant made the above motion that the said judgment be vacated and set aside and that defendant he permitted to withdraw

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his plea of guilty theretofore entered and substitute a plea of not guilty to the information on file therein.

Said motion was based on the following ground, namely: “That the said plea of guilty was obtained from defendant and defendant was induced to enter said plea by coercion, fear, threats, misapprehension, persuasion, promises, assurances, inadvertence, ignorance of his rights and of the consequence of his act, without advice of counsel, without being advised of his legal rights, without proper arraignment, without being fully advised as to his rights on arraignment, without being informed or advised by counsel or by said court as to what the punishment for the crime of murder would be, without said court offering to appoint or assign counsel to aid and advise the defendant in his defense, without full knowledge of his rights, without defendant fully comprehending the serious consequences of his plea of guilty, and in violation of his constitutional and legal rights. ’ ’ The motion was supported by the defendant’s own affidavit and by the affidavits of certain other persons presented at the hearing thereon, and was opposed by the presentation of the affidavits of the justice of the peace before whom the defendant’s preliminary examination was held, of the district attorney, of the several officers of the law implicated in the charges made in the defendant’s motion, and also by affidavits of several other persons who were cognizant of the circumstances surrounding the defendant’s arrest, imprisonment, examination, arraignment, plea, judgment, and sentence. The official record of the proceedings of the court was also presented in opposition to said motion. The court denied said motion, and from its order to that effect this appeal has been taken.

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