State v. Slopak

Defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of sodomy and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He assigns as error the trial court’s refusal to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea on motion made prior to sentencing.

When the defendant again appeared before the judge on April 11, 1969, the defendant’s attorney advised the judge that the defendant did not know that he could receive a life sentence under his plea and that the defendant wanted to change his plea to not guilty.

At the next hearing on April 21, 1969, the trial judge conceded that he advised the defendant that there was a 15-year penalty…