Opinion ID: 567922
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mateo's Plea Agreement

Text: 5 Under its plea agreement with David Mateo, the government agreed to recommend to the Court that the indictment against codefendant Christian Lopez be dismissed. The district court refused to approve the plea agreement out of concern that Mateo might have felt undue pressure to plead guilty in response to the government's offer to dismiss all charges against Lopez. Thereafter, Mateo entered an unconditional guilty plea, which the court accepted. The prosecutor stated in open court that since the Court has rejected the plea agreement between the parties, ... the government doesn't feel bound by any of the conditions ... in the plea agreement. Lopez and her attorney were present at Mateo's change of plea hearing. Undaunted, Lopez contends on appeal that the charges against her should have been dismissed in any event since Mateo's plea agreement, though never approved, was satisfied, as far as the government was concerned, by Mateo's guilty plea. We find no merit in her contention. 6 We note at the outset that the district court acted well within its discretion in rejecting the agreement. See Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262, 92 S.Ct. 495, 499, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971) (acceptance of plea agreement left to discretion of court); United States v. Papaleo, 853 F.2d 16 at 19 (1st Cir.1988) (same). Every plea agreement is subject to court approval pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 11(e). See United States v. Perez-Franco, 873 F.2d 455, 460 (1st Cir.1989). 1 A plea agreement entailing lenity to a third party imposes a special responsibility on the district court to ascertain [the] plea's voluntariness, United States v. Buckley, 847 F.2d 991, 1000 n. 6 (1st Cir.1988), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 1015, 109 S.Ct. 808, 102 L.Ed.2d 798 (1989); see also United States v. Daniels, 821 F.2d 76, 80 (1st Cir.1987), due to its coercive potential. Sensitive to the potential pressure on Mateo in these circumstances, the district court did not err in refusing to approve the agreement. 7 Plea agreements generally are governed by contract principles. See, e.g., United States v. Anderson, 921 F.2d 335, 337 (1st Cir.1990); United States v. Papaleo, 53 F.2d 16, 18 (1st Cir.1988). However, even if third party beneficiary principles were applicable to a plea agreement in a criminal case, and we are unaware of authority to that effect, a nonparty, at least absent a showing of detrimental reliance, could assert no right to performance under an agreement which was never enforceable between the contracting parties due to the failure of a condition precedent; here, the approval of the district court. 8 The district court was careful to make absolutely certain that Mateo's entry of a guilty plea was in no manner contingent upon any provision in the unapproved plea agreement. Nor does Lopez suggest that the rejection of Mateo's plea agreement placed her in any worse position than before the agreement was negotiated. Absent a showing that the government gained unfair advantage as a result of the agreement, cf. Papaleo, 853 F.2d at 18 (Due process concerns may ... arise prior to the entry of a guilty plea when the defendant detrimentally relies upon the government's promise) (emphasis added), once a plea agreement has been rejected by the court the government is under no obligation to abide by its terms. See United States v. Ocanas, 628 F.2d 353, 358 (5th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 984, 101 S.Ct. 2316, 68 L.Ed.2d 840 (1981) (as a general rule, either party to plea agreement may withdraw its consent until plea bargain has been accepted by court).