AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• Nicholas Ray Lopez, the Defendant, entered a guilty plea and subsequently appealed from the judgment and sentence. The appeal focused on the district court's denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea.

Procedural History

• [Not applicable or not found]

Parties' Submissions

• Appellant: The Defendant argued that the issues related to the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea should be considered on appeal, contending that a written order was not essential for perfecting the appeal.
• Appellee: The State, implicitly through the court's reasoning, argued that a final, written order is necessary for an appeal to be considered, and in the absence of such an order, the Defendant's appeal regarding the motion to withdraw his guilty plea could not be entertained.

Legal Issues

• Whether the absence of a written order from the district court, denying the Defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, affects the appellate court's jurisdiction to consider the appeal.

Disposition

• The appellate court affirmed the judgment and sentence on the Defendant's guilty plea, refusing to address the issues related to the motion to withdraw the plea due to the absence of a final, written order.

Reasons

• Per Roderick T. Kennedy, J. (James J. Wechsler, J., and Michael E. Vigil, J., concurring): The court found the Defendant's argument, that a written order was not necessary to perfect the appeal, to be unpersuasive. Citing precedent, the court emphasized that its jurisdiction depends on the existence of a final, written order. Oral pronouncements by the district court do not constitute final orders until they are documented in writing. The court concluded that the record of court proceedings on the motion to withdraw did not meet the requirements for a final, written order, as it lacked decretal language and was not signed by the judge. Consequently, there was no order on the Defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea from which he could appeal, leading to the affirmation of the judgment and sentence on his guilty plea.