No. 96 KA 0680 Precedential Processed

State v. Ridgley

Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit · Filed February 20, 1998 · 708 So. 2d 793

Cited by

State v. White 228 So. 3d 213 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 2017
State v. Cheatham 222 So. 3d 757 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 2017
State v. Heath 76 So. 3d 84 La. Ct. App. 1st Cir. 2011

Opinion text

| 1FITZSIMMONS, Judge, concurring. I respectfully concur in the result. The right of an accused to trial by jury is paramount. The facts surrounding the instant plea bargain and colloquy tread dangerously close to a justifiable belief by the defendant that the plea bargain agreement included *797 participation in the Impact Program, or “boot camp.” In such circumstances, a defendant should be allowed to withdraw his or her plea. However, in the instant matter, despite the factual dichotomy between the defense counsel’s portrayal of the circumstances and the court’s characterization of the incident as a “misunderstanding,” the totality of the evidence does not refute the court’s assessment that there was a misunderstanding, rather than justified reliance.