Criminal Procedure — breach of plea agreement

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Wisconsin Supreme Court

Criminal

Criminal Procedure — breach of plea agreement

The state did not implicitly violate the plea agreement.

“In the case at issue, the prosecutor in no way undermined or distanced himself from a recommendation at the ‘high end range’ of the PSI. The prosecutor’s quotation of the jail incident report supplied the court with relevant information which the prosecutor explicitly tied to a proper sentencing factor: the ‘need to protect the public from William Bokenyi.’ The prosecutor’s comment that the report was ‘frightening’ was, at most, an editorial comment akin to those made in Ferguson and Naydihor. Further, immediately after discussing the jail incident report, the prosecutor explicitly endorsed a sentence that comported with the plea agreement. The prosecutor in the case at issue in no way expressed second thoughts about the agreement with the defendant, nor did he express any indication that he thought the defendant was getting an undeserved ‘break’ from the system, as in Liukonen. If anything, counsel should feel the compunction to advise the court of relevant information regarding the defendant’s conduct.”

Reversed.

2012AP2557-CR State v. Bokenyi

Ziegler, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Hagopian, Suzanne L., Madison; For Respondent: Kassel, Jeffrey J., Madison; Steffen, Daniel P., Balsam Lake