United States v. Felicitas N. Fuller

Felicitas Ngalot Fuller appeals from the district court’s denial of her motion to withdraw an uncounseled guilty plea. We are presented with a clear violation of the sixth amendment’s guarantee of the right to counsel. It is apparent from the record below that in agreeing to the plea, Fuller was uninformed and was relying solely upon the advice of the government. We reverse and remand with instructions to the district court to permit Fuller to withdraw her guilty plea.

Appellant-defendant Felicitas Ngalot Fuller was arrested on November 8, 1989, after her husband reported to the Immigration and Naturalization Service that she had previously been married and had entered this country from the Philippines on a visa falsely stating that she was unmarried. The government detained her until November 22, when she appeared for the first time in district court and, without benefit of counsel, first waived the right to a grand jury indictment and then pled guilty to one count of use of a false visa. See 18 U.S.C. § 1546 (a). The plea agreement had been drafted by the government. The entire inquiry of the court into Fuller’s understanding of her right to counsel and her waiver of that right…