Exploring the Possibility of Withdrawing a Plea
Have you entered a plea of guilty in the state of Oklahoma and are now wondering if you can take that plea back? Hi, I’m Oklahoma City Attorney Aaron Easton, and today we’re gonna talk about motioning the court to withdraw a plea of guilty.
In Oklahoma, Title 22, Section 517 of the state statutes actually allows the district court in which you made the plea of guilty to grant a motion for you to withdraw that plea. It’s important to note that your chances for success on a motion to withdraw your plea are generally greater the nearer you are in time to when you entered that plea.
However, that doesn’t mean you don’t have any chance down the road, because you certainly do. So, speaking of that, briefly we’ll just discuss some of the more common reasons a court may grant your motion to withdraw your plea.
Common Reasons for Withdrawing a Plea
The first of those is the ineffective assistance or ineffective advice of counsel. If the court determines that your counsel that you had at the time you entered the plea didn’t investigate your case properly, didn’t present exonerating evidence to the state during the plea bargaining process or to the court, if they determined that they didn’t notify you or explain to you the consequences of what a guilty plea would lead to or exactly what you were pleading to in the first place, it’s possible the court could grant your motion to withdraw that plea.
Another reason is if the court determined at the time you entered the plea you were not competent to do so. This could be because of mental health reasons, substance abuse reasons, or other factors. If the court determines that the plea you entered was not knowing and intelligent, they may grant your motion to withdraw that plea.
A third reason is if there’s a constitutional problem within the process, such as a violation of your constitutional rights. For example, if you did not have counsel at all, your Sixth Amendment rights may not have been upheld during this process. The court can grant a motion to withdraw your plea in such cases.
Lastly, the court can grant a motion to withdraw your plea if there has been some new evidence of your innocence. If there is evidence that would exonerate you from the crime that you had pled guilty to, the court may withdraw your plea.
Take Action Now
If you find yourself in a situation in which you have pled guilty, and you want to know if there’s a chance you can withdraw that plea, you’re going to want to talk to an attorney privately and confidentially about the specific facts and circumstances of your own case. To speak to somebody at my firm for a initial consultation, you can reach us online at postconviction.lawyer, or by phone at (918) 932-2833.