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"The government?s argument that it honored its promises reeks of the lamp."

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is a sentence from an interesting Tenth Circuit opinion issued yesterday in US v. Villa-Vazquez, No. 07-3160 (10th Cir. Aug. 20, 2008) (available here).  The Tenth Circuit in this case finds that federal prosecutors "blatantly violated its promises" under a plea agreement with the defendant.  And, in addition to using this old-world phrase to describe the government's efforts to defend its behavior, the panel decision has these harsh words in the course of explaining its decision to remand for resentencing before a new judge:Second, we recognize that resentencing before a new judge cannot truly make Mr. Villa-Vazquez whole. The new judge cannot be entirely insulated from the government?s misconduct...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 21, 2008 (boomark / email).