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Commonwealth v. Jefferson

Judgment of sentence affirmed because trial court did not err in denying defendant's motion to withdraw his nolo contendere plea after she imposed a sentence higher than the negotiated sentence; the only plea agreement accepted by the court called for defendant to present himself to the court three days later and, having been warned that the consequence of failing to do so would be the imposition of a harsher sentence, defendant nevertheless failed to present himself as agreed.

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OPINION

� 1 Lawrence Jefferson appeals the May 13, 1999 Judgment of Sentence of 12� to 25 years imprisonment imposed by the trial court following his plea of nolo contendere to charges that he raped and corrupted the morals of his nine-year-old daughter. We affirm.

� 2 On February 8, 1999, Jefferson pled nolo contendere to Rape *fn1 and Corruption of the Morals of a Minor. *fn2 Jefferson and the Commonwealth negotiated a plea whereby the Commonwealth agreed to recommend a sentence of three to twelve years incarceration, with credit for time served. The trial judge, the Honorable Renee Cardwell Hughes, advised Jefferson at the time of his plea and sentencing that although such recommendations are not binding on the court, they carried great weight with her, and that if she did not accept the recommendation, she would allow Jefferson to withdraw his guilty plea. (N.T. Plea and Sentencing, 2/8/99, at 5.) At Jefferson’s request, Judge Hughes granted him three days to put his affairs in order, and agreed to impose the recommended sentence provided Jefferson submitted himself to the court’s custody on February 11, 1999. Jefferson failed to appear on February 11, 1999 as required, and the court entered a bench warrant for his arrest. Jefferson was arrested for another crime several months later. Subsequently, based on Jefferson’s violation of his agreement to appear in court on February 11, 1999, Judge Hughes sentenced him to ten to twenty years imprisonment for the rape, and a consecutive term of two and one-half to five years imprisonment for corrupting the morals of a minor, the charges to which Jefferson had previously pleaded nolo contendere. Thereafter, Jefferson filed an untimely motion to withdraw his plea of nolo contendere, which the trial court denied on the merits. This appeal followed.

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