Opinion ID: 761275
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Defendant's Motion for Specific Performance of the Plea Agreement

Text: 13 Initially, the defendant contends that he provided full and truthful cooperation to the Government, in accordance with the dictates of his plea agreement. Lezine maintains that the false statements cited by the Government do not amount to a substantial breach of his obligations under the agreement as they are either explainable or immaterial. Furthermore, the defendant contends that the false statements were made to probation officers, and probation officers are not agents of the Government, as the term is used in the plea agreement. Finally, Lezine argues that because the district court allegedly decided this issue on improper grounds, ruling that the decision whether to request a downward departure rests entirely in the hands of the prosecution, there was no adequate review of the facts underlying the Government's basis for withdrawing the section 5K1.1 motion. This failure, Lezine contends, entitles him to specific performance of the plea agreement and a remand for sentencing before a different judge. On the contrary, the Government contends that its refusal to move for a downward departure is justified on the ground that Lezine failed to provide full and truthful cooperation. Specifically, the Government points to numerous false statements and material omissions made by Lezine regarding his offensive conduct, criminal history, employment, and education. 14 The question of whether the plea agreement should have been enforced is a question of law subject to de novo review. See United States v. Williams, 102 F.3d 923, 927 (7th Cir.1996). The plea agreement at issue in the case under consideration provided in relevant part: 15 At the time of sentencing, the government shall make known to the sentencing judge the extent of the defendant's cooperation, and, assuming the defendant's full and truthful cooperation, shall move the Court, pursuant to Sentencing Guideline 5K1.1 and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) if applicable, to depart from the applicable sentencing guidelines range or statutory minimum by 33 percent. 16 Thus, the language of the plea agreement reveals that the Government assumed an obligation to move for a downward departure, conditioned upon the defendant giving full and truthful cooperation. 17 It is well-settled that in the absence of a plea agreement, the Government has broad discretion to withhold a section 5K1.1 motion. See Wade v. United States, 504 U.S. 181, 185, 112 S.Ct. 1840, 1843, 118 L.Ed.2d 524 (1992). In the absence of a plea agreement, it is the role of the prosecutor to assess the value of any assistance provided by the defendant, and any downward departure for substantial assistance is contingent upon a motion by the prosecution. See United States v. Burrell, 963 F.2d 976, 985 (7th Cir.1992). Thus, in the absence of an unconstitutional motive, a claim that a defendant merely provided substantial assistance will not entitle a defendant to a remedy or even to discovery or an evidentiary hearing. Wade, 504 U.S. at 186, 112 S.Ct. at 1844. 18 On the other hand, the Government limits its discretion when it enters into a plea agreement, as is the case here. Such agreements are contracts, and the Government is obliged under the law of contracts to fulfill any promises it makes in exchange for the defendant's guilty plea. See United States v. Jimenez, 992 F.2d 131, 134 (7th Cir.1993). Furthermore, breaches of plea agreements by the Government violate the defendant's constitutional rights and imperil the honor of the government, public confidence in the fair administration of justice, and the effective administration of justice in a federal scheme of government. United States v. Harvey, 791 F.2d 294, 300 (4th Cir.1986) (citation omitted). More specifically, in circumstances where a defendant fulfills his part of a plea agreement, if the prosecution makes and does not keep a promise to file a sec. 5K1.1 motion, and the promise is material to the plea, the court must allow the defendant to withdraw the plea and start over. Burrell, 963 F.2d at 985 (citation omitted). 19 Of course, a defendant's rights under a plea agreement are limited by what the parties in fact agreed to. See Jimenez, 992 F.2d at 134. Courts interpret the terms of a plea agreement in light of the parties' reasonable expectations upon entering the agreement. See United States v. Ataya, 864 F.2d 1324, 1330 (7th Cir.1988). In applying the rule in Ataya, we have recognized qualified or conditional language in plea agreements and have, on a number of occasions, excused the Government from its obligations after the defendant failed to live up to his end of the bargain. See United States v. Sanchez-Estrada, 62 F.3d 981, 987 (7th Cir.1995). Specifically, we have noted that defendants are not entitled to sentence reductions in circumstances where the Government has made such a recommendation in a plea agreement if the agreement was conditioned on the absence of evidence conflicting with the recommendation which the defendant failed to divulge to probation officers. Id. 20 [The defendant] was fully cognizant of the fact that his two-level reduction for acceptance of responsibility was contingent upon his continued cooperation and honesty with the court, a fact which was explained to him in writing, in the plea agreement, and orally during the hearing in which he pled guilty to conspiring to possess cocaine with intent to distribute. 21 Id.; see also United States v. Ashurst, 96 F.3d 1055 (7th Cir.1996) (giving effect to language which relieved the Government of its obligation to recommend a sentence reduction for acceptance of responsibility upon the discovery of information providing a lack of such acceptance). 22 The Government, however, cannot unilaterally determine that a defendant has breached a plea agreement. See United States v. Calabrese, 645 F.2d 1379, 1390 (10th Cir.1981). When the prosecution seeks to escape an obligation under a plea agreement on the grounds that the defendant has failed to meet some precondition, the defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing.  '[O]ne requisite safeguard of a defendant's [due process] rights is a judicial determination, based on adequate evidence, of a defendant's breach of a plea bargaining agreement.'  Ataya, 864 F.2d at 1329 (quoting Calabrese, 645 F.2d at 1390). In such an inquiry, the court must determine whether there has been a substantial breach of the plea agreement. See Ataya, 864 F.2d at 1330 (citing United States v. Wood, 780 F.2d 929, 931-32 (11th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 824, 107 S.Ct. 97, 93 L.Ed.2d 48 (1986)). In the absence of a finding of substantial breach on the part of the defendant, the Government must fulfill its obligations under the agreement. See Ataya, 864 F.2d at 1330. 23 In the case under consideration, the district court properly concluded that the Government's decision to withhold the motion could not be reviewed and emphasized that the general rule that the decision whether to request a downward departure rests entirely in the hands of the prosecution. Specifically, the trial court ruled that the motion for downward departure hinges on whether, according to the government, defendant has provided full and truthful cooperation. The court ruled that since the defendant did not allege that the prosecution's refusal was based upon an unconstitutional motive or that it was not rationally related to a legitimate Government end, he had no grounds to challenge the prosecution's decision. 24 In its first sentencing opinion, the trial court relied on two cases to support its ruling. In Burrell, 963 F.2d at 985, one of the defendants had signed a plea agreement in which the Government had agreed to dismiss certain counts and, in its sole discretion, move for departure if defendant provides substantial assistance. This Court held that the Government did not breach the agreement when it declined to move for departure in that the Government had not promised to make a section 5K1.1 motion in exchange for a guilty plea, but rather had simply affirmed its discretion to move for a departure if it determined that the defendant had provided substantial assistance. See id. Similarly, in United States v. Spillman, 924 F.2d 721, 723 (7th Cir.1991), the Government stipulated in a plea agreement that it would inform the court of the defendant's cooperation and make its sentencing recommendation based upon its evaluation of that cooperation. At the sentencing hearing, the Government apprised the district judge of the extent of the defendant's cooperation, but recommended a departure upward as his extensive criminal history outweighed the value of his cooperation. See id. This Court held that the Government's action did not breach the agreement as the Government had simply agreed to make a recommendation on the basis of its evaluation of the defendant's cooperation. See id. at 725. The defendant could have negotiated for the inclusion of a specific promise to request a downward departure under section 5K1.1 if he thought it necessary. See id. 25 The cases relied upon by the district court in its second sentencing opinion also involved defendants whose plea agreements differed from the plea agreement under consideration and lacked a specific pledge by the Government to make a section 5K1.1 motion. In four of those cases, United States v. Brigham, 977 F.2d 317, 320 (7th Cir.1992), Wade, 504 U.S. at 185, 112 S.Ct. at 1843, United States v. Smith, 953 F.2d 1060, 1065-66 (7th Cir.1992), and United States v. Egan, 966 F.2d 328, 330 (7th Cir.1992), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1069, 113 S.Ct. 1021, 122 L.Ed.2d 167 (1993), there was either no plea agreement or no promise of a section 5K1.1 motion in the plea agreement. In one other case cited by the sentencing court, United States v. Fairchild, 940 F.2d 261, 266 (7th Cir.1991), the plea agreement provided only that if the defendant provides substantial assistance in compliance with § 5K1.1 of the United States Sentencing Commission Guidelines, and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e), the government agrees to recommend a downward departure .... In Fairchild, this Court held that the substantial assistance provision, rather than giving away the Government's discretion, simply reaffirmed the options available under the law. See id. The Government thus had sole discretion to determine whether the defendant provided substantial assistance meriting a downward departure. See id. 26 In the case under consideration, both parties agree that the sentencing court erred in accepting the Government's argument that even in the circumstance where the Government had conditionally pledged to make a section 5K1.1 motion, it had unfettered discretion to refuse to make that motion. The cases the district court relied on in reaching this conclusion are distinguishable from the present case--Burrell and Spillman explicitly preserved the right to move for a downward departure solely to the discretion of the Government. Similarly, the plea agreement in Fairchild, 940 F.2d at 266, provided that the Government would recommend a downward departure if the defendant provided substantial assistance. This substantial assistance language duplicates that of section 5K1.1 and 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e), which allow the Government to move for a departure from the sentencing guidelines and the mandatory minimum sentence in recognition of substantial assistance provided by the defendant. By borrowing the language of these provisions, the parties to the plea agreement in Fairchild evinced an intention to preserve the discretion afforded the prosecution under the law. 27 Conversely, the unique language of the plea agreement before this Court reveals that the Government assumed an obligation to move for a downward departure. The agreement provided that assuming the defendant's full and truthful cooperation, the Government shall move the court to depart downward from the applicable sentencing guideline range or statutory minimum sentence. The plea agreement imposes a specific obligation on the Government. Since the Government has made a definitive promise to Lezine, contrary to the sentencing judge's findings, Lezine's due process rights demand that we determine whether or not he has failed to meet the precondition of full and truthful cooperation. See Ataya, 864 F.2d at 1329. 28 In his dealings with the Government, Lezine repeatedly lied about his criminal history, representing himself as a first-time offender in his presentence interview and plea agreement. Lezine affirmed this misinformation during his plea colloquy and during his initial presentence interview. Furthermore, Lezine initially contended that he was in the hotel room with Patel when Patel opened one of the four suitcases and removed six kilograms of cocaine. However, Lezine's probation officer testified at a sentencing hearing that he had contradicted his statement by later claiming that he was in the bathroom with Mills when Patel opened the suitcase and that he did not know there was cocaine in the suitcases until the time of his arrest. Moreover, at his hearing on bond pending sentencing, Lezine claimed that his girlfriend had given birth to his second child two days prior, when in fact the child had been born weeks earlier. He also claimed that he needed to return to California for his imminent marriage to his girlfriend; a marriage which never took place. During his presentence interview, Lezine falsified information he gave about his graduating from Long Beach City College and attending the University of California-Berkeley. Lezine also lied about his prior employment at Bust It Records. And finally, while under court-ordered supervision pending sentencing, the defendant routinely violated his electronic monitoring and lied about the duration of his employment in California in order to avoid electronic monitoring. This succession of falsehoods and deceptions, as well as Lezine's repeated failure to correct past misrepresentations, constituted a substantial breach of his obligation to provide full and truthful cooperation. In light of this factual determination, the Government was relieved of its duty and had no obligation to move for a downward departure under section 5K1.1. 29 Though the trial court affirmed the Government's refusal to make its section 5K1.1 motion, Lezine claims that in ruling that he had not obstructed justice for the purposes of sentencing, the district court implicitly accepted his excuses for his failure to disclose his prior criminal history (Lezine contended that he was distracted by his children during his telephone interview and that he thought his record consisted of only traffic-related offenses which were not criminal in nature). Lezine also argues that he did not change his testimony regarding his knowledge of the cocaine and attributes the probation officer's testimony to poor communication. He also maintains that his prevarications regarding the date of his second child's birth and his employment and education history are irrelevant. 30 These contentions fall short of convincing us to come to a conclusion that Lezine's conduct did not constitute a substantial breach of his plea agreement for several reasons. In the initial sentencing opinion issued on February 28, 1997, the trial court found that Lezine had obstructed justice by failing to disclose his criminal history in his initial presentence interview. In the second sentencing opinion dated May 29, 1997, the district court reversed this holding and found Lezine's explanation credible given that he had admitted his prior conduct when his probation officer finally confronted him. In effect, the court ruled that while Lezine had made false statements and material omissions, his excuses were sufficiently credible to rescue him from an obstruction of justice penalty. For purposes of the terms of the plea agreement, however, Lezine's explanation does not suffice. The record clearly demonstrates that the defendant failed to disclose material information. While his eventual acknowledgment of his criminal record may provide cover from the charge of obstruction of justice, this remedial action does not bring Lezine's conduct in conformity with the strict requirement of full and truthful cooperation. 31 Lezine's numerous other falsifications also violated the condition of full and truthful cooperation. By changing his story regarding his knowledge of the cocaine, Lezine rendered his overall testimony less credible for the prosecution. He cannot escape the fact that his false testimony may not be useful to prosecutors by belatedly giving the excuse that his failure to cooperate and his less than truthful testimony was the product of poor communication between himself and the probation officer. Similarly, Lezine's lies concerning his education and employment history cannot be dismissed as irrelevant; such lies are simply a pattern of fraud, deceit, and misrepresentation that serve to invalidate Lezine's potential usefulness as a witness. The plea agreement called for full cooperation and does not limit the scope of this obligation. During the plea colloquy, Lezine himself affirmed that full and truthful cooperation included veracity in statements to probation officers and he cannot escape this caveat now. 32 Lezine offers two final arguments. Initially, he argues that since the district court decided the issue of whether specific performance of the plea agreement should be granted on improper grounds, an adequate review of the facts underlying the Government's basis for withdrawing the motion did not take place. However, as detailed above, our de novo review of the record documents a number of false statements by the defendant which provide ample support for the Government's action. Second, Lezine contends that, for purposes of the plea agreement, probation officers are not considered part of the Government. As such, Lezine contends that his misrepresentations to probation officers did not violate the condition of full and truthful cooperation with the Government. However, the defendant fails to acknowledge that this Court has repeatedly recognized that probation officers are an extension of the Government and officers of the court. See United States v. Sciuto, 531 F.2d 842, 846 (7th Cir.1976) (Prejudgment based on a prehearing ex parte communication is as unfair when the communication comes from a probation officer, who is an officer of the court, as when it comes from some other course.) (emphasis added). During his plea colloquy, Lezine himself confirmed that he had agreed to provide true information in the presentence process, that is, when ... interviewed by the probation officer. Furthermore, as the defendant failed to raise this issue until his reply brief, he has waived his argument. See United States v. Hall, 142 F.3d 988, 996 (7th Cir.1998). 33 In sum, Lezine made numerous false statements regarding his criminal history, his conduct during the offense he was convicted of, and his educational, familial, and employment history. These prevarications violated a condition of the plea agreement that the defendant cooperate fully and truthfully with the Government and therefore, the Government was under no obligation to move for a downward departure pursuant to section 5K1.1 and 18 U.S.C. § 3883(e). 34