Opinion ID: 199507
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Criteria and Conditions.

Text: 29 We do not lend our imprimatur to such waivers indiscriminately. There are obvious dangers attendant to the practice. Sentences ultimately are imposed by the district courts, which must make sentencing determinations under controlling law. When a district court errs in sentencing, that error may be manifest on the record. Thus, in addition to concerns about fairness to the defendant, an institutional interest - public confidence in the judicial system - may be adversely affected if such errors go uncorrected. To ameliorate these risks, we deem it appropriate that such waivers meet stringent criteria. Even then, we think that limits must be set on the effect that can be given to them. It is to those criteria and conditions that we now turn. 30 The baseline for any waiver of rights is that the defendant enter into it knowingly and voluntarily. Rumery, 480 U.S. at 394. In the plea-bargain context, the text of the plea agreement and the content of the change-of-plea colloquy are critically important to a determination of knowledge and volition. See, e.g., United States v. Parrilla-Tirado, 22 F.3d 368, 373 (1st Cir. 1994) (examining both the text of the plea agreement and the change-of-plea colloquy to determine whether a guilty plea was entered knowingly and voluntarily). Like other courts, e.g., Jemison, 237 F.3d at 916-18; Nguyen, 235 F.3d at 1182-83, we will consult those sources in determining the validity of a particular presentence waiver of appellate rights. 31 We look first to confirm that the written plea agreement signed by the defendant contains a clear statement elucidating the waiver and delineating its scope. E.g., Fleming, 239 F.3d at 762; Brown, 232 F.3d at 401. Mindful that Rule 11(c)(6), quoted supra at 22, specifically recognizes the importance of the change-of-plea hearing to any waiver of appellate rights, we next will examine the transcript of that hearing. The focus of this inquiry is to ascertain whether the court's interrogation suffices to ensure that the defendant freely and intelligently agreed to waive her right to appeal her forthcoming sentence. 32 In respect to presentence waivers of appellate rights, several courts had held, without reference to the neoteric provisions of Rule 11(c)(6), that the district judge must question the defendant specifically about her understanding of the waiver provision and adequately inform her of its ramifications. E.g., Jemison, 237 F.3d at 917-18; Brown, 232 F.3d at 401-02, 405-06. While some courts previously had held waivers of appellate rights to be valid despite the absence of specific questioning during the change-of-plea colloquy, e.g., Michelsen, 141 F.3d at 871-72; United States v. Wenger, 58 F.3d 280, 282 (7th Cir. 1995), these decisions antedate the adoption of Rule 11(c)(6). That rule - which was in force when Teeter changed her plea - alters the decisional calculus. In explicating the rationale for adopting the rule, the advisory committee made it pellucid that such an inquiry, properly performed, offers considerable assurance of the defendant's knowledge and volition. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(6), advisory committee notes. Consequently, we hold that the district court must inquire specifically at the change-of-the-plea hearing into any waiver of appellate rights. 7 Neglecting this duty will constitute error and may serve to invalidate the waiver, depending upon what the record shows as to the defendants' knowledge (that is, whether the defendant, notwithstanding the absence of a particularized inquiry, understood the full significance of the waiver) and the existence vel non of prejudice. See United States v. Bushert, 997 F.2d 1343, 1351-52 (11th Cir. 1993); see also Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(h). 33 Of course, courts ought to strive for consistency. While not necessarily a fatal error, a court can compromise an otherwise adequate change-of-plea colloquy by sending contradictory messages to the defendant. One potential source of confusion looms when the trial court, acting pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32(c)(5), 8 tells the defendant at sentencing about her right to appeal. If a presentence waiver of appellate rights is in place, the court should be especially careful in its choice of words, taking pains to explain to the defendant that her right to appeal is circumscribed by her pre-existing waiver. 34 One court has held that a blanket assurance about the right of appeal, delivered when sentence is pronounced, cancels a pre-existing waiver of appellate rights. United States v. Buchanan, 59 F.3d 914, 917-18 (9th Cir. 1995) (holding that the sentencing court's statement created a reasonable expectation on the defendant's part that he could appeal his sentence, notwithstanding the pre-existing waiver). Other courts have disagreed, e.g., United States v. Atterberry, 144 F.3d 1299, 1301 (10th Cir. 1998); Michelsen, 141 F.3d at 872, and so do we. While broad assurances to a defendant who has waived her appellate rights (e.g., you have a right to appeal your sentence) are to be avoided -they muddy the waters and tend to instill false hope - they do not effect a per se nullification of a plea-agreement waiver of appellate rights. Whether such assurances may constitute reversible error in particular cases, and if so when, are matters that may be left for another day. 35 We add a coda. We have endeavored to provide general guidance to the district courts and the bar concerning plea-agreement waivers of appellate rights. We caution, however, that because such waivers are made before any manifestation of sentencing error emerges, appellate courts must remain free to grant relief from them in egregious cases. When all is said and done, such waivers are meant to bring finality to proceedings conducted in the ordinary course, not to leave acquiescent defendants totally exposed to future vagaries (however harsh, unfair, or unforeseeable). Our basic premise, therefore, is that if denying a right of appeal would work a miscarriage of justice, the appellate court, in its sound discretion, may refuse to honor the waiver. 9 As a subset of this premise, we think that the same flexibility ought to pertain when the district court plainly errs in sentencing. 10 36 In sum, we conclude that plea-agreement waivers of the right to appeal from imposed sentences are presumptively valid (if knowing and voluntary), but are subject to a general exception under which the court of appeals retains inherent power to relieve the defendant of the waiver, albeit on terms that are just to the government, where a miscarriage of justice occurs. In charting this course, we recognize that the term miscarriage of justice is more a concept than a constant. Nevertheless, some of the considerations come readily to mind: the clarity of the error, its gravity, its character (e.g., whether it concerns a fact issue, a sentencing guideline, or a statutory maximum), the impact of the error on the defendant, the impact of correcting the error on the government, and the extent to which the defendant acquiesced in the result. Other considerations doubtless will suggest themselves in specific cases. 37 We recognize, too, that this general reservation will, at least at the outset, lessen what the government sees as the prime benefit of its bargain: the automatic cutoff of debate and the opportunity to get appeals dismissed on motion. Realistically, however, the outlook is not entirely bleak. While open-ended, the general reservation that we envision will be applied sparingly and without undue generosity. Motions to dismiss will still be entertained and, by appealing after promising not to do so, defendants will risk giving the government an option to disclaim a plea agreement, if it wishes to do so. 38 We acknowledge that this approach represents a break with precedent. Although several of our sister circuits have made clear, in approving presentence waivers, that there will be only narrowly circumscribed exceptions, e.g., Jemison, 237 F.3d at 911; Brown, 232 F.3d at 403; Michelsen, 141 F.3d at 872, we do not feel comfortable adopting any rigid taxonomy without more experience. Relief from waivers has traditionally occurred on a fact-specific basis. We believe that the general reservation which we adopt today is sufficiently broad to capture any truly deserving case but demanding enough to prevent defendants who have agreed to waive their right to appeal from successfully pursuing garden-variety claims of error. 39