If you missed the recent post on plea agreements as “constitutional contracts,” you might want to take a look at it now. In the comment section you’ll find the Bills bantering about how such an argument would play out in the trial courts AND ALSO a comment by Colin Miller, the professor who wrote the… Read more
2. Construction of terms
Attorneys litigating the breach of a plea agreement might want to take a look at this new paper, Plea Agreements as Constitutional Contracts, by Professor Colin Miller of the University of South Carolina Law School. It highlights some interesting issues to raise on behalf of our clients–issues that could well make their way to SCOTUS… Read more
Review of an unpublished per curiam court of appeals decision; affirmed 2016 WI 17; case activity (for 2014AP1248-CR, which links to the other consolidated cases) Issues (composed by On Point from the PFR) Where the State agreed to cap its sentence recommendation on four cases at the “high end” of the recommendation of the presentence investigation… Read more
State v. Nelson Luis Fortes, 2015 WI App 25; case activity (including briefs) A “misunderstanding” about what sentence the state could recommend under the plea agreement did not entitle Fortes to plea withdrawal or resentencing because after the misunderstanding became evident at the sentencing hearing, Fortes elected to proceed rather than seek an adjournment with a possible eye toward… Read more
State v. Lisa A. Brabazon, 2012AP1171-CR, District 4, 3/28/13; court of appeals decision (not recommended for publication); case activity Guilty plea — factual basis; value of stolen property The victim’s statements as to the value of the stolen property (which were set forth in the complaint) provided a sufficient factual basis for concluding that the… Read more
State v. Richard L. Wesley, 2009 WI App 118, PFR filed 8/4/09 For Wesley: Alvin Ugent Issue/Holding: A plea agreement under which the State dismissed one count “outright” and “(b)oth sides are free to argue” was ambiguous as to whether to State could argue the facts underlying the dismissed charge at sentencing: ¶17 We thus… Read more
State v. Richard L. Wesley, 2009 WI App 118, PFR filed 8/4/09 For Wesley: Alvin Ugent Issue/Holding: ¶12 The interpretation of plea agreements is rooted in contract law. See State v. Deilke, 2004 WI 104, ¶12, 274 Wis. 2d 595, 682 N.W.2d 945. Contractual language is ambiguous only when it is “reasonably or fairly susceptible… Read more
State v. Michael F. Howard, 2001 WI App 137, 630 N.W.2d 244 Issue: Whether the prosecutor breached a plea bargain calling for a maximum recommendation on multiple counts of concurrent terms of 25 years in prison, when the actual recommendation was for a total of 25 years but included consecutive terms. Holding: ¶18 Undoubtedly, one… Read more
