Criminal Procedure — breach of plea agreement

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Criminal

Criminal Procedure — breach of plea agreement

Where the government breached the plea agreement by filing a superseding indictment, the defendant is entitled to enforcement of the original agreement.

“In sum, it would be circular to say that Adame lost the ability to contest systematic and pervasive errors in the district court’s handling of his plea because he pleaded guilty. Indeed, application of the general waiver rule in this context would have absurd consequences. It would compel a defendant in Adame’s position to forgo his second guilty plea and instead head to trial, all so that his original plea would be honored. The entire point of his initial plea was to avoid a trial and the potentially harsher punishments that go with it. That benefit would be lost if Adame were forced to go to trial — in other words, to put his liberty in jeopardy a second time — to vindicate the plea. See Abney v. United States, 431 U.S. 651, 660 (1977) (‘[T]he rights conferred on a criminal accused by the Double Jeopardy Clause would be significantly undermined if appellate review of double jeopardy claims were postponed until after conviction and sentence.’).”

Vacated and Remanded.

12-1268 U.S. v. Adame-Hernandez

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Barker, J., Tinder, J.