People v. Forrest

I cannot agree with the majority opinion. The evidentiary hearing was inconclusive and is of little aid to this Court for carrying out a meaningful review of the voluntariness of the defendant’s guilty plea.

The question of the voluntariness of defendant’s plea precipitated the remand for an evidentiary hearing. However, a review of the evidentiary hearing transcript reveals that the lower court was preoccupied with the truthfulness of the plea rather than its voluntariness. In addition, the defendant was the only witness at the hearing and the transcript indicates that, at critical times…