Opinion ID: 1917909
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 32

Heading: 171. plea discussions and agreements.

Text: (a) The Prosecuting Attorney is encouraged to discuss and agree on pleas which may be entered by a defendant. Such discussion and agreement must be conducted with the defendant's counsel or, if the defendant is unrepresented, may be conducted with defendant. (b) Defense counsel shall not conclude any plea bargaining on behalf of a defendant-client without his client's full and complete consent thereto, being certain that any decision to plead guilty or nolo contendere is made by the defendant. Defense counsel shall advise defendant of all pertinent matters bearing on the choice of which plea to enter and the particulars attendant upon each plea, the likely results thereof as well as any possible alternatives which may be open to him. (c) Responsibilities of the Trial Judge. After an agreement on a plea has been reached, the trial judge may, with the consent of the parties, have made known to him the agreement and reasons therefor prior to the acceptance of the plea. The terms of the agreement shall be placed in the record. He shall thereafter advise the parties of whether other factors (unknown at the time) may make his concurrence impossible. Should such other factors make ultimate judicial concurrence impossible, any plea of guilty or nolo contendere entered based upon such agreement may thereafter be withdrawn. (d) Discussion and Agreement Not Admissible. If the defendant pleads not guilty, no mention of any prior proceedings hereunder shall be admissible against him. Committee Note : New in Florida. Most criminal cases are disposed of by pleas of guilty arrived at by negotiations between prosecutor and defense counsel; but, there was no record of the plea negotiations, plea bargaining, or compromise. The result has been a flood of post conviction claims which require evidentiary hearings and frequently conflicting testimony concerning the plea negotiations. There has also been criticism of the practice of requiring a defendant, upon a negotiated guilty plea, to give a negative reply to the court's inquiry concerning any promise made to him. This is designed to avoid the foregoing pitfalls and criticisms by having the negotiations made of record and permitting some control of them. See Commentary to Standard 3.1 ABA Standards relating to Pleas of Guilty. (a) From Standard 3.1a. (b) From Standard 3.2. (c) From Standard 3.3 except for omission of that part of standard which prohibits trial judge from participating in plea discussions. (d) From Standard 3.4.