Voluntary Plea – Court Error

Listen to this article

WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: State of Wisconsin v. Dionte J. Nowels

Case No.: 2018AP1171-CR

Officials: Kessler, P.J., Brennan and Dugan, JJ.

Focus: Voluntary Plea – Court Error

Dionte J. Nowels appeals a judgment of conviction entered on his guilty plea to three felony charges. The charges related to Nowels’ involvement in a series of crimes on April 28, 2015, that started with a carjacking and ended with Nowels driving off during a traffic stop of the stolen car, running a stop sign, hitting a car broadside and killing its driver immediately, and fleeing on foot from the scene. He also appeals the order denying his postconviction Bangert motion to withdraw his guilty plea. He had sought to withdraw the plea on the grounds that in the plea colloquy the trial court omitted two of the elements the State had to prove on the hit and run charge. He alleged that he did not, in fact, understand that the State had to prove that Nowels “knew, before leaving the scene, that the accident involved an attended vehicle” and that Nowels was physically capable of complying with the hit and run statute’s requirements. See WIS JI—CRIMINAL 2670.

At the evidentiary hearing, Nowels and his trial counsel testified about what they had discussed prior to the plea hearing. The postconviction court concluded that the State had met its burden of showing that Nowels understood all the elements of the hit and run charge and that his plea was therefore knowing and voluntary even though the trial court had not properly summarized the elements of the charge in the colloquy. Nowels now appeals, arguing that the postconviction court based that conclusion on factual findings that are clearly erroneous.

Full Text

Derek A Hawkins is trademark corporate counsel for Harley-Davidson. Hawkins oversees the prosecution and maintenance of the Harley-Davidson’s international trademark portfolio in emerging markets.