Harris v. State
Harris v. State
Opinion
James Glen Harris pleaded guilty and was convicted of four counts of an indictment charging the possession of child pornography, in violation of Ala. Code 1975, §
On this appeal from those convictions, Harris argues that the trial court erred in denying his "motion to dismiss the indictment as being multiplicitous, or in the alternative, motion to compel an election by the State as to the count it intends to prosecute." The trial court denied this motionbefore Harris entered his guilty pleas. Harris waived this issue by pleading guilty.
The record on appeal contains only the minute entry of the circuit court with regard to the guilty pleas. There is no court reporter's transcript of the guilty plea proceedings. Here, as in Robinson v. State,
"A plea of guilty, if voluntarily and understandingly made, is conclusive as to the guilt of the defendant, admits all facts charged, and waives all non-jurisdictional defects and questions in the prior proceedings against the defendant. . . . While a plea of guilty purges the record of error . . . the plea is only an admission of record of the truth of whatever is sufficiently charged in the indictment, and does not prevent a defendant from taking advantage of error or defects apparent of record. . . ." Camp v. State,
359 So.2d 1187 ,1188-89 (Ala.Cr.App. 1978).
Harris contends that his motion should have been granted on the grounds that his convictions violate principles of former jeopardy. Harris was charged in a four-count indictment with four separate violations of §
Harris did file a motion for new trial. Of the seven grounds of that motion, only two could possibly relate to the present issue:
"1. The judgment and sentence of the Court are contrary to law.
". . . .
"7. The Court erred in overruling the Motion to Dismiss the Indictment as being Multiplicitous or, in the Alternative, Motion to Compel an Election by the State as to the Count it intends to prosecute filed by the defendant in this cause."
Harris did not challenge the voluntariness of his guilty plea by any ground of his motion for new trial.
While a trial court may grant a new trial "[f]or the reason that the verdict is contrary to law," Rule 13(a)(3)(i), A.R.Cr.P. Temp., that particular ground of objection is general and does not inform the trial court of the reason the verdict is contrary to law. An objection should state a specific basis in order to allow the trial court to make an informed decision on the particular point of law. Ex parteWeaver,
Ground 7 of the motion for new trial reasserted the same objection which Harris had raised and the trial court had overruled before Harris entered his guilty pleas. Therefore, by pleading guilty, Harris waived this ground. "The fact that a defendant has been in former jeopardy cannot *Page 11
be raised for the first time on appeal." Cox v. State,
"It is axiomatic, however, that a party seeking reversal on appeal must not only argue a valid ground of reversible error committed below, but must also have preserved that error for review by proper procedural mechanisms." Ex parte O'Leary,
This court may not consider the facts stated in Harris's appellate brief which are not supported by the record. "An appellate court generally cannot consider any matter outside of the record." Ex parte Beck,
In Ex parte Brannon,
Although Harris also alleges that his counsel was ineffective for failing to preserve this issue for appeal, "the now settled rule [is] that claims of ineffective assistance of counsel may not be considered for the first time on direct appeal." Jackson v. State,
The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- James Glen Harris v. State.
- Cited By
- 24 cases
- Status
- Published