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Tyner v. State

The defendant's 1984 guilty plea to malice murder was invalid because the record did not show that he was advised of his right against self-incrimination as Boykin requires.

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This is Curtis Tyner’s much delayed direct appeal of his 1984 malice murder conviction based on his guilty plea. Because the case is here on direct appeal and the record does not show that Tyner was advised of his right against self-incrimination as we have held is required by Boykin v. Alabama , 395 U.S. 238 89 SC 1709, 23 LE2d 274 1969, his guilty plea was invalid and we must reverse his conviction. 1. According to the factual basis offered in support of the guilty plea, in April 1984, IBM executive Martha Anne Mickel hired Tyner to paint her apartment. On April 15, Tyner forced Ms. Mickel into a car, tied her up, sexually assaulted her, and then dumped her, unconscious, in a creek. The autopsy showed that the victim was still alive and breathing when she was put into the water and that the cause of death was drowning. The police identified Tyner as a suspect from evidence found in the victim’s apartment. He confessed to the police a few days later after being advised of his rights, even telling them where to find the victim’s purse. Tyner denied, however, knowing that the victim was still breathing when he threw her in the creek. On April 27, 1984, Tyner was indicted for malice murder, and Carl Greenberg from the Fulton County Public Defender Office was appointed to represent him.

On September 25, 1984, Tyner pled guilty to malice murder. He later said that he pled guilty because the State had indicated that it would seek the death penalty if the case went to trial. The transcript of the plea hearing shows that Tyner was advised of and waived two of his three Boykin rights —the right to a jury trial and the right to confront the witnesses against him. However, he was not advised of his third Boykin right, the right against self-incrimination.

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