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State v. Hughes12/31/2003
PUBLISHED
Thibodeaux, J., Dissents and assigns written reasons.
AFFIRMED.
Defendant, Carol M. Hughes, pled guilty to negligent homicide, a violation of La.R.S. 14:32 and was sentenced to the maximum term of imprisonment of five years at hard labor. She appeals her conviction on the ground that her plea was not knowing, intelligent, or voluntary. She also requests we vacate her sentence on the basis of excessiveness. For the following reasons, we affirm Defendant's conviction and sentence.
FACTS
Defendant and her estranged husband had a heated argument on January 15, 2002 at a Wal-Mart store in DeRidder. The argument continued after she returned to her residence to drop off her children and went to her husband's residence. She advised her husband that she was going to commit suicide. After leaving her husband's residence, she traveled at an extremely high rate of speed and told her husband via cellular phone that she had decided to end her life. The Defendant then drove her vehicle into the path of a pickup truck driven by Roger Dale Busby. Mr. Busby died instantly as a result of the impact. Defendant survived.
INFIRMITY OF THE GUILTY PLEA
Defendant claims her guilty plea was not "knowing" because the trial court failed to inform her of the nature of the charge to which she pled and failed to determine that she understood the nature of that charge. The trial court questioned the Defendant regarding the Waiver of Constitutional Rights and Plea of Guilty form signed by the Defendant. The Defendant answered affirmatively when asked if she read and understood the form. The Defendant also stated that her attorney went over the form with her and that she had no questions for him. By signing the form, the Defendant acknowledged that she understood the elements and the nature of negligent homicide.
After the guilty plea form was received into evidence, the trial court and the Defendant had the following colloquy:
BY THE COURT: Ms. Hughes, you are entering a plea of guilty to negligent homicide which is defined under R.S. 14:32 as the killing of a human being by criminal negligence. The violation of a Statute or Ordinance shall be considered only as presumptive evidence of such negligence. Whoever commits the crime of negligent homicide shall be imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than 5 years, fined not more than $5,000.00, or, both. However, if the victim was killed as the result of receiving a battery and was under the age of 10 the offender shall be imprisoned at hard labor without benefit of probation or suspension of sentence for not less than 2, nor more than 5 years. Now, after reading that to you, do you have any questions about what constitutes the crime of negligent homicide?
BY MS. HUGHES: No sir.
Thereafter, the State recited the factual basis for the charge and stated that the Defendant was driving in an "extremely grossly reckless manner at speeds above 100 miles an hour." When asked if they concurred in the factual basis presented, the Defendant and her counsel stated that they concurred in all facts except the rate of speed at which the Defendant was traveling. They did not know how fast the Defendant was traveling.
In her brief, the Defendant recognizes that the trial court informed her that she was entering a "plea of guilty to negligent homicide which is defined under R.S. 14:32 as the killing of a human being by criminal negligence." What the trial court did not do, the Defendant claims, is define criminal negligence. The Defendant further asserts:
(1) Her plea could not be knowing without the definition of cr
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