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Petitioner's Guilty Plea Was Involuntary Where Based on False Promise of 3-Year Side Deal

By Shari Allison

Tovar Mendoza v. Hatch, 2010 WL 3965209 (10/12/10) (Published) - A wonderful victory in a habeas case. The 10th held that the petitioner's guilty plea was rendered involuntary by a promise by his attorney that he would get a 3-year sentence because the attorney had worked out a side deal with the judge. The plea agreement called for a sentence up to 30 years and the petitioner got 25 years. The 10th did not apply the stringent AEDPA standards of review because, in denying the state habeas claim, the state trial court judge found the plea to be voluntary solely based on a review of the plea colloquy and not based on any of the evidence outside the record that was developed at the federal evidentiary hearing and that resulted in factual findings by the magistrate judge adopted by the d...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on October 19, 2010 (boomark / email).