State v. Richards

GORS, Acting Justice.

[¶ 1.] Bevis R. Richards pled guilty to escape and was sentenced to serve seven years in the penitentiary consecutively to the sentence he was already serving. On appeal he contends that he did not understand the nature and consequences of his guilty plea because the trial court did not, as required by SDCL 23A-7-4, inform him of the mandatory minimum penitentiary sentence. We reverse and remand.

FACTS

[¶ 2.] On May 26, 2000, Richards was sentenced to five years in the penitentiary for third offense DUI. On July 10, 2000 Richards, who was housed at the Community…