Pleas & Sentencing – Plea Withdrawal – Waiver

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Criminal

7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Officials: FLAUM, KANNE, and SYKES, Circuit Judges

Pleas & Sentencing – Plea Withdrawal – Waiver

No. 14-3545 United States of America v. Sandra McGuire

Appellant misunderstanding of district court “accepting” her plea does not make her plea involuntary.

“Indeed, McGuire does not specify what she means by “in effect” in the context of plea agreements. It is not clear to us that an adjudication of guilt has much impact on the plea agreement, at least as far as McGuire’s argument is concerned. For one thing, courts remain free to reject plea agreements even after an adjudication of guilt. And for an- other, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11, the rule governing pleas, includes the following statement regarding a defendant’s ability to withdraw a guilty plea: “[a] defendant may withdraw a plea of guilty … before the court accepts the plea, for any reason or no reason; or … after the court accepts the plea, but before it imposes sentence.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 11 (emphasis added). This rule does not mention when a defendant has been “adjudicated guilty;” it mentions when the court “accepts” the plea. In this case, the court stated at the plea hearing that it “accepted” the plea.”

Dismissed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.