Opinion ID: 52840
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Decisions Subsequent to Calverley

Text: Several Fifth Circuit decisions have recognized that the Calverley standard applies to forfeited objections to a breach of a plea agreement. [6] Notably, in United States v. Cerverizzo , the court applied Calverley and affirmed that under the plain error test a defendant claiming a breach of a plea agreement must show prejudice resulting from the error. 74 F.3d 629, 633 (5th Cir.1996). A handful of this court's cases, unfortunately, are inconsistent with Calverley and call for per se reversal any time the government breaches a plea agreement. These opinions do not properly account for the distinction between preserved and forfeited error. The root of the confusion is United States v. Valencia, a case that Puckett relies on. 985 F.2d 758 (5th Cir.1993). In Valencia the government breached a plea agreement at sentencing, and the defendant preserved his objection. Id. at 760. On appeal the panel applied a per se rule of reversal, stating that [t]he interest of justice and standards of good faith in negotiating plea bargains require reversal where a plea bargain is breached. Id. at 761. That rule, articulated in a case where the defendant preserved the error, is inapplicable here, where Puckett forfeited the error. Puckett's reliance on Valencia is thus misguided. Other decisions have erroneously relied on Valencia in situations where a defendant forfeited his objection. In United States v. Munoz, 408 F.3d 222 (5th Cir. 2005), the defendant argued for the first time on appeal that the government had breached the plea agreement. Id. at 226. Although Munoz claimed to be reviewing for plain error, it did not conduct the appropriate analysis. Munoz did not require the defendant to show the elements of plain error and prejudice as required by Calverley and Cerverizzo. Instead, the court, citing Valencia, applied a rule of per se reversal. Id. at 226 & n. 26. Munoz is not alone in failing to draw the distinction between preserved and forfeited error and in incorrectly applying Valencia rather than Calverley and Cerverizzo. [7] In sum, decisions that incorrectly relied on Valencia without considering the ramifications of procedural default are not controlling. The correct rule, correctly applied, is found in Calverley and Cerverizzo, and we are bound by that rule where no objection was lodged in the district court. See United States v. Molina, 469 F.3d 408, 416 (5th Cir.2006).