2009AP2633-CR State v. Stoner

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Criminal Procedure
Reopen and amend provisions

This appeal is about a “reopen-and-amend” provision of a plea agreement, a phrase coined by prior Wisconsin case law referring to those plea bargains where the State and defendant agree that a judgment of conviction, once announced, will be amended by the State upon the happening of some future event. Prior decisions of our court hold that such agreements are illegal because judgments, once announced, may not be amended by a prosecutor. The parties do not dispute the illegality here. Rather, they dispute the remedy. Stoner would like for the illegal provision to be simply severed and the remainder enforced. The trial court, however, struck the whole sentence as the product of illegality and put the parties back where they were before the agreement was made. Case law supports the trial court here and we affirm. This opinion will not be published in the official reports.

2009AP2633-CR State v. Stoner

Dist II, Racine County, Mueller, J., Brown, C.J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Uller, Joshua Davis, Milwaukee; For Respondent: Weber, Gregory M., Madison; Blandford, Mary E., Racine

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