Opinion
ID. No. 0708031134.
May 9, 2008.
Upon Defendant's Motion to Withdraw Guilty Pleas — DENIED.
Robert C. Mumford, Sr., Delaware Correctional Center, Smyrna, DE.
Dear Mr. Mumford:
This responds to your April 5, 2008 motion to withdraw your guilty pleas. The court has considered the seven reasons you offer, almost all of which concern complaints about your attorney, Mr. Weiler. The court has also reviewed the Plea Agreement, the Truth-in-Sentencing Guilty Plea Form and its detailed notes of the plea colloquy.
Concerning your complaints about Mr. Weiler, the court asked you in writing and orally whether you were satisfied with Mr. Weiler's work on your behalf. You assured the court, in writing and orally, that you were. After the lawyers addressed the court, you and I spoke directly for 7-8 minutes and you voiced no complaints. In fact, after you told me that you were satisfied with Mr. Weiler's work, you thanked him.
The court is not ignoring your specific accusations against Mr. Weiler, mostly to the effect that he was not prepared. You told the court, however, that you were in fact guilty, and it does not appear that your prospects were very good had you gone to trial. The court suspects that if it were to allow you to withdraw your guilty plea and go to trial, you would wind up in a worse position than you are in now. That leads to your concerns about your possible sentence.
Assuming that your claim is true and Mr. Weiler originally told you that you were only facing three years in prison, the fact remains, as your motion concedes, before you pleaded guilty you were told in writing and orally, that you were facing seven years and seven months in prison. Nevertheless, you went forward without complaint. And, as mentioned above, if your guilty plea is withdrawn, you will be facing even more years in prison.
Concerning your claim that your pre-sentence interview was not private because it was conducted by videophone and Mr. Weiler did not care about that, the court appreciates your concern for privacy. If there is anything you care to add to the interview, you have leave to file a letter. The Prothonotary will place it in the pre-sentence file.
Assuming your claim is true that you were medicated during the preliminary hearing, and Mr.Weiler was unprepared then and at your first case review, the preliminary hearing is beside the point once you were indicted. By the same token, it is not uncommon for lawyers to be ill-prepared at first case reviews. Things that needed to be done at first case reviews were done in your case, and you did not plead guilty then.
It is true, as your motion says, that you asked to be sentenced immediately. Even so, not only did I tell you why you would not be sentenced immediately, I asked you specifically whether you wanted to go through with the plea in light of the fact that you would not be sentenced immediately. If being sentenced immediately were truly as important as you now say, you could have backed-out of the plea when you were given the opportunity on February 7, 2008.
As to your final argument, the court told you specifically, and you told the court you understood, that it would be almost impossible for you to back-out of the plea later. At this point, the court must conclude that your motion is based primarily on "buyer's remorse." In other words, when you pleaded guilty, it was, as you said then, a knowing, voluntary and intentional thing. Only in hindsight have you become concerned about your decision. But, as discussed above, there is nothing in your motion or the record suggesting that your decision was, in fact, a bad one, much less that it was unlawful.
For the foregoing reasons, the motion to withdraw guilty pleas is DENIED. Sentencing will take place, as scheduled, on May 16, 2008.
IT IS SO ORDERED.