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Woods v. State5/19/1998
the plea agreement, he was calm and that his family had been present; Woods' wife apologized to Crow for previously being angry with Crow and gave Crow a hug. Crow denied ever telling Woods to simply say "yes sir" or "no sir" during the district court canvassing. Crow explained: "My typical conversation with a client coming into Judge Fondi's courtroom is Judge Fondi will ask yes or no type questions, but if they have questions they should direct those to the Judge himself."
With regard to whether Crow told Woods to lie about his recollection of the accident for the pre-sentence report, Crow testified: "I advised Mr. Woods specifically not to lie, but if he had no memory, he had no memory, and that is what he should tell them if that was the truth." As to the videotapes, Crow asked NHP for a copy but was informed that a trooper had made the video on his home video camera, and that the video was not available because the trooper had either left the NHP or relocated. Crow asserted that she did not file a motion based upon the lost NHP tape because Woods had accepted the plea and she did not believe that the videotape had been intentionally destroyed or that its absence was prejudicial to Woods.
According to Crow, the trauma room tape had been routinely taped over, and she had followed up on the phlebotomist's contention regarding seat belt marks; defense experts had concluded that a seat belt had not been used by Woods. At the end of direct examination, Crow maintained that Woods had understood the plea bargaining process and had voluntarily entered a plea. She also asserted that she had never denied Woods' family a copy of the preliminary transcript and had provided a copy at their first request, which was after Woods had signed the plea agreement.
On cross-examination, Woods' new counsel (Rogers) asked Crow about Woods' explanation of events given to Dr. Lynn during his 1994 competency examination wherein Woods stated that he was a passenger at the time of the accident. Rogers asked: "When in this particular case did you realize that the Defendant had a memory of what had in fact occurred in this case?" Crow responded, "I don't know if I ever gained that knowledge from Mr. Woods." Following Crow's testimony, Rogers conceded that there had been no deficiency in the Judge's canvassing of Woods; Rogers had not been present during the canvassing but nonetheless argued to the Judge that Woods' answers had been "extremely stilted . . . . While they may be the right answers, they are almost robot in nature."
At the Conclusion of the hearing, the district court Judge denied Woods' motion to withdraw his plea and stated: "First of all, this Court, myself, the Judge of this Court, was present throughout the process. I did not observe the Defendant to be robot like in his responses [to the canvassing questions]." The Judge noted that Woods' family had been present during the August 1994 hearing in which Woods' plea was accepted: "No objections were made to the process. They seemed to be participating in it." The district court concluded that the canvass had been proper and that Woods' plea had been knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily made.
Prior to sentencing, on December 6, 1996, Woods moved the court to set aside his plea bargain as being unlawful pursuant to NRS 484.3795(2). Woods argued that in consolidating the original four counts of the criminal complaint into the two-count plea agreement, the State had violated NRS 484.3795(2), which limits the State's ability to dismiss a felony DUI charge in exchange for a guilty plea. At the December 17, 1996 sentencing hearing, the court denied Woods' motion to set aside the plea based upon NRS 484.3795(2). The distr
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