Chapter 2 - § 2.6 • WITHDRAWING GUILTY PLEAS PRIOR TO SENTENCING

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 2.6 • WITHDRAWING GUILTY PLEAS PRIOR TO SENTENCING

Crim. P. 32(d) addresses attempts to withdraw a guilty plea prior to sentencing. The rule does not set out any guidelines for courts to follow when deciding whether to allow a defendant to withdraw a guilty plea prior to sentencing, other than to provide that a court that decides not to accept a plea agreement should allow the defendant to withdraw his or her guilty plea. The case law establishes that there is no inherent right to withdraw a plea, but that circumstances may justify a trial court decision to allow a defendant to withdraw a plea. Crim. P. 35 addresses attempts to withdraw or vacate a guilty plea after sentencing and is addressed in the following section and in § 8.3.

Just as the decision to plead guilty is personal to the defendant (see § 2.5.6), the decision to withdraw a plea of guilty is one that the defendant is entitled to make. The defendant's attorney may and, when appropriate, should give advice regarding the appropriate decision, but the defendant should have the final word on whether to seek withdrawal. People v. Davis, 2012 COA 1 at ¶ 95, rev'd on other grounds, People v. Davis, 2015 CO 36.

The Colorado Supreme Court in Maes v. People, 396 P.2d 457 (Colo. 1964), announced the standards applicable to a motion to withdraw a guilty plea as follows:

One accused of crime may not, as a matter of right, have his plea of guilty withdrawn or changed. An application for the withdrawal or change of such plea is addressed to the discretion of the trial court, and only when it is made to appear that that discretion has been abused will we act. . . .

To warrant the exercise of discretion favorable to a defendant concerning a change of plea, there must be some showing that justice will be subverted by a denial thereof, as where a defendant may have been surprised or influenced into a plea of guilty when he had a defense; where a plea of guilty was entered by mistake or under a misconception of the nature of the charge; where such plea was entered through fear, fraud, or official misrepresentation; or where it was made involuntarily for some reason.

Whether such showing was made is a matter for the trial court to decide. Its decision is normally binding on us when it appears that it has been made in the exercise of judicial discretion.

Id. at 459 (citations omitted). These standards were reaffirmed in People v. Chavez, 730 P.2d 321 (Colo. 1986).

The standard for withdrawal of a guilty plea before sentencing is more lenient than the standard for withdrawal of a plea after...