Appellate Plea Waiver-Sentencing

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Charles Fears

Case No.: 22-1934

Officials: Flaum, St. Eve, and Pryor, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Appellate Plea Waiver-Sentencing

Fears was charged by superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking under 18 U.S.C. § 1594(c) and four substantive counts of sex trafficking under 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a), (b)(1). The four § 1591(b)(1) counts carry fifteen-year mandatory minimums. Instead of going to trial, Fears pleaded guilty to a superseding information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking under § 1594(c) and one substantive count of sex trafficking— this time under § 1591(a), (b)(2). Section 1591(b)(2), in contrast to (b)(1), carries a ten-year mandatory minimum. According to Fears, the plea agreement he signed to avoid the risk of multiple substantive sex-trafficking convictions is invalid because he received no benefit. Upon examination, consideration for the agreement abounds; the government made multiple concessions, not the least of which was permitting Fears to plead guilty to fewer counts, carrying lower mandatory minimums, than charged in the indictment. Since Fears’s plea agreement included an appellate waiver, the Seventh Circuit dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.

Decided 06/22/23

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