By: Derek Hawkins//July 20, 2015//
Criminal
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Officials: FLAUM, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.
Discovery – Government Disclosure
No. 14-3602 United States of America v. Joshua R. Mackin
Where government’s failure to produce correct and complete copies of discovery constituted prejudice and grounds to vacate conviction for possession of a firearm.
“Adequate preparation of a defense includes the ability to intelligently weigh one’s plea options. The denial of that opportunity here constituted prejudice. See United States v. Muniz-Jaquez, 718 F.3d 1180 (9th Cir. 2013) (“A defendant who knows that the government has evidence that renders his planned defense useless can alter his trial strategy. Or he can seek a plea agreement instead of going to trial.”); Lee, 573 F.3d at 165 (“Lee might have chosen to enter into plea negotiations with the Government if he had accurate information about the strength of its case.”); United States v. Alvarez, 987 F.2d 77, 85 (1st Cir. 1993) (finding prejudice where defendant was “deprived of opportunity to design an intelligent … plea strategy”); United States v. Pascual, 606 F.2d 561, 565 (5th Cir. 1979) (“It would be hard to make an argument with any degree of plausibility that the use of this [evidence] without prior production did not seriously prejudice the defendants in exercising their option to plead not guilty.”); see also Lafler v. Cooper, 132 S.Ct. 1376, 1381 (2012) (stating that “criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials”).”
Vacated and Remanded