can you withdraw a guilty plea after sentencing?

[debioliv2]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? va
I am asking fo my son, he is 20, I have asked a few questions before for him on this site, I really hope someone can help us here. My son had a court appointed attorney. He basically drew up a plea, not the commonwealth, and presented it to my son. My son said NO he was not taking it. My son gave permission for me to be able to talk to his attorney about his case. His attorney would not talk to him,, he was incarcerated,, kept avoiding his calls, and mine too. Eventually we do make contact, tell him again he is not taking the plea and the attorney says you take it or I withdraw from your case and you can get some dumbass to take over. It scared my son. He still didn't sign it. Meanwhile, I got ahold of Rick Boucher our state rep, who offered up some web sites for help. They explained a standard of practice, so I ask the attorney about motions to supress and the discovery. We are in the hall at the court house and he lies to us about the evidence the commonwealth has. He then promised my son a weekend at home if he would take the plea. My son has been in there for 3 months on a charge that was eventually dismissed. He had been out on bond previosly. Well, you guessed it after lieing about the evidence ,and the promise of a weekend, my son sits in the court room and signed the plea. The judge asked him about 5 times if he was sure, he looks at his attorney and says yes, the judge asked him didn't he want a trial, and he answers no. Now the commonwealth stands up and reads the evidence he had and my son realizes he had been lied to, but thinks its too late to do anything.
After all this is finished the attorney mentions the weekend to the judge who looks at them like they are nuts, and said we just don't do that. The commonwealth stood up and told the judge that he did not oppose it and what a decent kid my boy was that he had never been in any trouble and he got his weekend.
Is there any way to withdraw the plea? He has already been sentenced. Thanks for all your help.

[las365]

my son sits in the court room and signed the plea. The judge asked him about 5 times if he was sure, he looks at his attorney and says yes, the judge asked him didn't he want a trial, and he answers no.

I'm pretty sure that it's too late for your son to change his plea.

[latigo]

Under the circumstances given I would say that your son was effectively denied his 6th Amendment rights to counsel, which should be adequate grounds to support a motion to withdraw the guilty plea.

It’s certain not a slam-dunk, but when this constitutional ground is presented, even when the issue of whether or not the defendant was adequately represented seems questionable, granting the motion gets the judge off of the hook. They take no pleasure in being reversed on appeal.

Besides what have you got to lose (except money) by making a stab at it. However, this time with a reputable defense attorney.

Good luck

[Ronin]

It appears your son may have had a lousy attorney who was not concerned about his best interests. But that does not mean your son has a case to change anything. He was empowered to refuse the terms his attorney recommended and allow his attorney to withdraw (as his attorney suggested). But he chose not to.

While its true that you have nothing to lose but money by taking a stab at an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the likelihood is that this will be good money lost with very little chance of success.

Once judgment has been rendered, any actions to change the judgment have to move pretty quickly, or the right to ask the judge to reconsider or to file an appeal is lost.

Assuming you still have time to file post judgment motions or an appeal, finding another attorney to prepare and make such an argument won't be cheap, and will not likely be made by a court appointed attorney.

The facts you are arguing are outside the record, which will be very difficult if not impossible to raise on appeal. Appeals are very expensive with very low odds of success. Appeals courts like to highlight the fact that a judge repeatedly asked the defendant if he was sure, and in this case the judge asked your son five times.

Ultimately, you cannot be certain that your son would have fared any better at trial.

[debioliv2]

Hi everyone, just an update, my son got his 3 day weekend at home, he called the judges clerk and eventually talked to the judge. He was told to submit a letter quickly saying what he felt. the judge got the letter and agreed and appointed a new lawyer.
This attorney is a personal injury attorney and doesn't know how to handle my son's case. Now this attorney is part of a group of attorneys for indigent people. They have certain standards, one of which is if the attorney does not feel he can adequately represent the client he can remove himself and another will be appointed. I guess that's where we are now. My son has had an attorney come to the jail and is going to hire him. I have a question, can my son still have a bench trial, jury trial or plea? The personal injury attorney told him he could not have a bench trial.
Thanks everyone for the help.

[justalayman]

glad to hear of the actions. sometimes the system works.


as to the type of trial available; I cannot give you a dependable answer but; since it would appear they have simply started back at the beginning, I see no reason a bench trial would not be available. I do not know, nor have I checked, your states specific procedures.

one thing I can say is;

once this is to the point the previous attorney cannot cause problems for your son, I would report him (the old lawyer) to the states bar. It appears his ethics are a bit lacking. If half of what you related is only half true, I would think the attorney should be in some serious trouble.