To mount a successful collateral challenge to a guilty plea, the defendant bears the initial burden and must describe the specific manner in which his waiver of rights was in fact involuntary or without understanding, and must at least go forward with evidence sufficient to indicate that his specific claim presents a genuine issue for adjudication. State v. Offen, 156 N.H. 435, 438, 938 A.2d 879 (2007). If the defendant meets his initial burden, and if the record indicates that the trial court affirmatively inquired into the knowledge and volition of the defendant's plea, then the burden remains with the defendant to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the trial court was wrong and that his plea was either involuntary or unknowing for the reason he specifically claims.

In a collateral attack of a guilty plea, the defendant bears the initial burden and must describe the specific manner in which the waiver was in fact involuntary or without understanding, and must at least go forward with evidence sufficient to indicate that his specific claim presents a genuine issue for adjudication. State v. Offen, 156 N.H. 435, 438, 938 A.2d 879 (2007). If the defendant meets his initial burden, and if the record indicates that the trial court affirmatively inquired into the knowledge and volition of the defendant's plea, then the defendant has the burden to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that the trial court was wrong and that his plea was either involuntary or unknowing for the reason he specifically claims.

Kinne also acknowledged at his sentencing hearing that his attorney had advised him of the charges against him, and his attorney stated that he had gone over the acknowledgment of rights form with Kinne and was satisfied that Kinne understood his rights and knowingly relinquished them. CompareThornton, 140 N.H. at 538, 669 A.2d 791 (finding plea to be voluntary and intelligent where both defendant and his counsel signed an acknowledgment of rights form), withArsenault, 153 N.H. at 417, 897 A.2d 988 (finding that defendant had met his initial burden to challenge a guilty plea where he was unrepresented by counsel, he received information regarding the plea only from the prosecutor, and no one described any elements of the offense to him), andState v. Offen, 156 N.H. 435, 438, 938 A.2d 879 (2007) (finding that defendant met his initial burden where he appeared pro se, had a limited education, and testified that he did not understand an element of the crime). Kinne has never claimed that his trial counsel did not explain the elements of class A felony robbery.

“We review questions of statutory interpretation and constitutional questions of law de novo.” State v. Offen, 156 N.H. 435, 437, 938 A.2d 879 (2007). “In matters of statutory interpretation, we are the final arbiter of the intent of the legislature as expressed in the words of a statute considered as a whole.”

To the extent the defendant raises an issue of statutory interpretation, our review is de novo. State v. Offen, 156 N.H. 435, 437, 938 A.2d 879 (2007). We are the final arbiter of the intent of the legislature as expressed in the words of a statute as a whole.

“A guilty plea must be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary to be valid.” State v. Offen, 156 N.H. 435, 437, 938 A.2d 879 (2007) (quotation omitted). Thus, a defendant must voluntarily waive his rights and “fully understand[] the elements of the offense to which he is pleading, the direct consequences of the plea, and the rights he is forfeiting.”