Cite as: 506 U. S. 20 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
mitted that the judge had at least advised him of his right to a jury trial.
Based on this evidence, the trial court denied respondent's suppression motion. Respondent then entered a conditional guilty plea on the robbery and the persistent felony offender counts, reserving the right to appeal the suppression determination. The trial court sentenced him to 5 years for robbery, enhanced to 10 because of the persistent felony offender conviction.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals affirmed. It found the totality of circumstances surrounding the 1979 plea sufficient to support a finding that the plea was knowing and voluntary. It also upheld use of the 1981 conviction. The court explained that respondent's knowledge of his rights in November 1979 permitted an inference that he remained aware of them 23 months later. Respondent's testimony, moreover, indicated that his sophistication regarding his legal rights had increased substantially after his first conviction. The Supreme Court of Kentucky denied discretionary review.
Respondent then filed a federal habeas petition, arguing that the Kentucky courts had erred in requiring him to adduce evidence, rather than requiring the Commonwealth affirmatively to prove the prior convictions' validity. The District Court denied the petition for essentially the same reasons given by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Raley v. Parke, Civ. Action No. C89-0756-L(A) (WD Ky., Mar. 15, 1990). The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, however, agreed with respondent, relying on its recent decision in Dunn v. Simmons, 877 F. 2d 1275 (1989), cert. denied, 494 U. S. 1061 (1990). 945 F. 2d 137 (1991). Simmons held that when no transcript of the prior guilty plea proceeding exists, the prosecution has the entire burden of establishing the plea's validity, and no presumption of regularity attaches to the final judgment. 877 F. 2d, at 1277. It also held that when the prosecution seeks to demonstrate the regularity of the prior proceeding with extrarecord evidence, that evi-
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