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Lovell v. State11/12/1997
d indicated a willingness to meet further with him if he had had any questions. On the day preceding the entry of the guilty plea, defense counsel had taken a draft of the agreement to Lovell at the Worcester County Detention Center. Defense counsel read the agreement aloud while Lovell followed along line by line. Defense counsel then went to the State's Attorney's Office in Somerset County with proposed revisions which were agreed upon. Defense counsel then returned to the Worcester County Detention Center, gave Lovell a further opportunity to read the revised document, and advised him of the changes. At that time Lovell signed the agreement and his counsel witnessed it.
Beneath Lovell's signature on the plea agreement defense counsel signed a statement reading, in part: "To the best of my knowledge and in my opinion, [Lovell's] decision to enter into this agreement is an informed and voluntary one."
When the guilty plea was tendered to the circuit court, the circuit court interrogated Lovell from a preprinted form containing thirty-nine questions. Lovell acknowledged receiving a written copy of the charges. He answered affirmatively to the question: "Do you understand the nature of the charge(s) against you and have you told your attorney everything you can about the case that might assist you in your defense?"
In addition to having a record made by the court reporter of the guilty plea proceedings, the circuit judge wrote the affirmative or negative responses by Lovell on the written form from which the court was questioning and which is headed, "Request for Acceptance of Guilty Plea(s)."
As reported in the transcript, the thirty-sixth question by the court read:
"Mr. Lovell, you may plead guilty because you are in fact guilty or because you believe it is in your best interest to plead guilty. For which of those reasons, or both, do you wish to plead guilty this afternoon?"
The transcript records that Lovell replied: "The fact that I am guilty and the fact that it's my best interest."
On the form, the court had recorded as the answer to question thirty-six only "it is in my best interest." At the conclusion of questioning, the court had Lovell and his counsel review the form as it had been completed by the court, preliminary to their signing the form. In that review defense counsel noticed that the court's record of Lovell's answer to question thirty-six was incomplete. Lovell, in his own hand, thereupon added to the answer on the court's form, "I am pleading guilty because I am guilty." Lovell and his counsel initialed the inserted matter, and Lovell signed the completed form.
Defense counsel then signed a certificate that is affixed to the completed form. In part that certificate states: "I have advised the Defendant as to the nature of all charges (including those as to which no plea is offered)." The certificate concludes with the statement: "In my opinion, the plea(s) of guilty ... are voluntarily made ... with the Defendant's full understanding of the nature of all charge(s) involved ...."
The circuit court's determination that Lovell understood the nature of the charge of first-degree, premeditated murder is supported by the record.
Lovell also asserts that his plea was involuntary because it was entered despite the fact that defense counsel had advised him not to plead guilty. We agree with the State's response that the disagreement furnishes "all the more reason to presume that counsel undertook every conceivable measure and made all available arguments in an attempt to persuade Lovell not to enter a plea on the death-eligible crime of first degree murder." Further, "the
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