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District Court Must Allow Defendant to Withdraw Plea When It Overrides Mandatory Provision

By Jonathan Byrne

US v. Lewis: Lewis entered into an agreement with the Government to plead guilty to one count of witness tampering (another of those counts and a felon in possession charge would be dropped). Part of the plea agreement stated that the "parties agree that this sentence of imprisonment shall be served concurrent with the state sentence [Lewis] is currently serving . . .." At the plea hearing, the district court explained that it was not bound by any "recommendations" in the plea agreement and that Lewis might be sentenced more severely than the agreement contemplated. Although the district court explained that some agreements could be withdrawn from if the district court did not accept it, this was not one of those agreements. At sentencing, the district court imposed a sentence of 46 months, to be served consecutively to the undercharged state sentence "over the defendant's objection...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Circuit Blog on February 23, 2011 (boomark / email).