Fineza v. State

Barnes, Judge.

Craig Fineza was indicted for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, and three counts of possessing a knife while committing a felony. He subsequently pled guilty to aggravated battery, into which the aggravated assault charge merged, and the State nolle prossed the remaining charges. The trial court granted Firieza’s motion for an out-of-time appeal, and he now contends that his guilty plea was invalid because he did not understand the impact of pleading guilty under North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U. S. 25 (91 SC 160, 27 LE2d 162) (1970) (a defendant may…