State v. Riddle

Ness and Harwell, Justices,

(dissenting):

We respectfully dissent and would reverse and allow the defendant to withdraw his guilty plea.

The withdrawal of a guilty plea is generally within the sound discretion of the trial judge. State v. Neal, 267 S. C. 53, *151226 S. E. (2d) 236 (1975). We believe appellant’s plea was not entered knowingly because he misunderstood the scope of the agreement on sentencing. Cf. State v. Hazel, 275 S. C. 392, 271 S. E. (2d) 602 (1980) (plea not knowingly made because defendant misunderstood requirement of statutory mandatory sentence). See also Boykin v. Alabama,…