HANLEY v. STATE
624 P.2d 1387 (1981)
Gramby Andrew HANLEY, Sr., Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Nevada, Respondent.
No. 11309.
Supreme Court of Nevada.
March 20, 1981.
Paul H. Schofield, Las Vegas, for appellant.
Richard H. Bryan, Atty. Gen., Carson City, Robert J. Miller, Dist. Atty., Clark County, James N. Tufteland, Deputy Dist. Atty., Las Vegas, for respondent.
OPINIONSPRINGER, Justice:
On March 2, 1978, several days into a jury trial in which he was being tried for murder and kidnapping, appellant Gramby Andrew Hanley, Sr., decided to plead guilty to murder in the first degree. On that day there was presented to the court a written "plea agreement," approved by Hanley's counsel and signed by Hanley, in which it was agreed that Hanley would "plead guilty to Count Two of the Information filed in the above-entitled case, the degree of the crime specifically to be Murder of the First Degree..." In exchange for such a plea, the district attorney agreed that kidnapping charges against Hanley would be dismissed.
At the time set for entry of judgment and sentencing, April 25, 1978, Hanley himself addressed the court and made a request to withdraw the agreed-to plea of guilty entered on March 2. His request was made on the ground that he was "forced" into a plea of guilty by reason of a state of mind at the time of the plea which was brought about by conditions in the Clark County jail and aggravated by his wife's having been assaulted on the third day of trial.
When inquiry was made as to how he claimed to have been forced into a plea of guilty, Hanley responded by saying that he suffered from a "detachment from reality" which was "similar to brainwashing."
The court rather summarily dismissed this request, noting that such possibilities had been carefully gone into at the plea hearing. The court recalled that at the plea hearing Hanley "appeared to be lucid and in full control of his facilities (sic)."
After denying the request for change of plea and after hearing from Hanley's counsel and from Hanley himself, the court, at
the conclusion of the April 25 hearing, sentenced Hanley to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Formal judgment of conviction with accompanying sentence was filed on May 3, 1978.
1. Appellant claims error because at the time "the range of punishments for murder in the first degree included not only life in prison with the possibility of parole or without the possibility of parole, but also included the death sentence if aggravating circumstances were found." Because of this Appellant contends that he was not advised of the range of punishment. If evidence of aggravating circumstances had been thereafter introduced and the death penalty assessed, certainly appellant would have a cognizable grievance. Under cited circumstances, we see no legitimate complaint on this score.
2. Concurring opinion of White, Stewart, Blackmun and Powell, JJ., pp. 648-649, 96 S.Ct. pp. 2259-2260.
3. In Henderson, supra, the concurring opinion of White, Stewart, Blackmun and Powell, JJ., expresses a refusal to "permit a guilty plea to be entered against the defendant solely on the consent of defendant's agent — his lawyer. Our cases make absolutely clear that the choice to plead guilty must be the defendant's: it is he who must be informed of the consequences of his plea and what it is that he waives when he pleads. Boykin v. Alabama,395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969); and it is on his admission that he is in fact guilty that his conviction will rest." ((426 U.S. at 650, 96 S.Ct. at 2260); emphasis in original.) Simply to take the attorney's "word" that the elements of the criminal offense had been dutifully explained does not seem to abide by these principles nor comply with the statutory requirement that the defendant be addressed "personally" concerning the "nature of the charge."