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Court Denies DUI Defendant?s Request to Withdraw Guilty Plea to Operating While Intoxicated

By admin

On October 30, 2007, the Michigan Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion in the case People v. Bach, affirmed the trial court’s decision to deny the DUI defendant’s request to withdraw her guilty plea to a third offense of operating while intoxicated (OWI) with a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher under M.C.L. 257.625(1). The DUI defendant was sentenced to 23 to 60 months imprisonment.

The DUI defendant’s primary argument on appeal was that her first OWI conviction was obtained in violation of her right to counsel and, therefore, that first operating while intoxicated conviction could not be used to support her OWI third offense conviction. Specifically, the DUI defendant claimed that she was denied her request for a court appointed lawyer and her first OWI conviction eventually led to five days in prison. Consequently, she argued on appeal that the trial court erred for denying her request to withdraw her guilty plea.

The Michigan Court of Appeals disagreed. “‘A collateral attack on a prior conviction underlying a present charge may not be made after a defendant?s plea of guilty to the present charge is accepted.’” Citing the Michigan Supreme Court case People v. Roseberry, the court of appeals noted that, “To be timely, such a motion must be made before a defendant?s plea of guilty or nolo contendere is accepted.”

Based on this rule, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court. “In the case at bar, once the Lenawee transcript was filed in the circuit court, the trial court accepted defendant?s guilty plea without any further discussion between the court and the parties. Therefore, even if we were to assume that defendant?s first OWI conviction was obtained in violation of her right to counsel, because defendant?s plea was accepted without defendant moving to set aside the prior conviction, defendant could no longer make a collateral attack regarding her prior underlying OWI conviction.”

The DUI defendant also raised on appeal an ineffective assistance of counsel argument, which the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected.

Click here to read the entire opinion.

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Full post as published by Michigan DUI Law on November 02, 2007 (boomark / email).