S. Ct. Crim. No. 2008-0107

The conviction of a defendant who pled guilty under the terms of a plea agreement to the crime of attempting to obtain money by false pretenses under 14 V.I.C. §§ 331(2) and 834(2), but challenged his conviction on the ground that presenting a forged check to a bank does not constitute the crime of attempting to obtain money by false pretenses, is affirmed. A defect in the charging information does not deprive the Superior Court of its power to adjudicate a criminal case, but rather goes to the merits of the case. Thus - assuming without deciding that the information in this case failed to allege an essential element of the crime of attempting to obtain money by false pretenses - the Superior Court clearly possessed subject matter jurisdiction to accept the defendant's guilty plea. He may not challenge the sufficiency of the information for the first time on appeal because, by pleading guilty, he has admitted to all of the factual and legal elements necessary to sustain a binding, final judgment of guilt and a lawful sentence. Because the defendant pled guilty unconditionally, and was subsequently convicted for the crime of attempting to obtain money by false pretenses, the inquiry on appeal must be limited to whether the underlying plea was both counseled and voluntary, and he has failed to challenge the guilty plea on these grounds. The record indicates that the defendant knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily pled guilty to the crime of attempting to obtain money by false pretenses. Therefore, the judgment of the Superior Court is affirmed.