Opinion ID: 4542456
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Mr. Rose will be free to recommend

Text: any lawful sentence. .... If [Rose] does accept this offer, I will formalize it in a standard plea agreement format used in Ravalli County for execution by all of us. Rose accepted the State’s plea proposal upon receipt. Thereafter, the State prepared a final plea agreement, which Rose and his attorney signed. However, when the State and Rose presented the final plea agreement to the state trial court at the change of plea hearing, the court rejected it. The court stated it was rejecting the agreement because of Rose’s “complete unwillingness to accept any responsibility for his actions at the time the [original plea proposal] was initially offered.” As a result, Rose’s convictions and sentence were left undisturbed. The state trial court’s rejection of the final plea agreement was affirmed on appeal to the Montana Supreme Court. See State v. Rose, 406 P.3d 443, 448 (Mont. 2017). ROSE V. GUYER 9 After the state trial court rejected the final plea agreement and the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the rejection, Rose returned to federal district court to file a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 70(a) motion to enforce the Conditional Writ. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 70(a) (“If a judgment requires a party . . . to perform [a] specific act and the party fails to comply within the time specified, the court may order the act to be done . . . by another person appointed by the court. When done, the act has the same effect as if done by the party.”). For the first time, Rose argued that, because the State did not reoffer him an equivalent plea proposal, the State’s failure to comply with the Conditional Writ entitled him to immediate release from an unconstitutional detention. The federal district court denied the motion without a hearing. In deciding that the State had “timely and faithfully executed” the Conditional Writ, the court rejected the suggestion that Rose was not offered an equivalent plea proposal because of two discrepancies between the original and reoffered plea proposals. First, the court determined that the original plea proposal was “illegal in form because it called for separate sentences for Assault with a Weapon and for Rose’s designation as a [PFO].” The court explained that, “[u]nder Montana law, sentences imposed based upon an offender’s [PFO status] replace the sentence for the underlying felony.” Therefore, the court found that the State could not have lawfully reoffered this exact term in 2016. Second, the court determined that, although the reoffered plea proposal contained a specific sentencing recommendation (whereas the original plea proposal left the State largely free to recommend a sentence it deemed appropriate), it was “entirely possible” for the State “to recommend the same aggregate sentence” under both proposals. Furthermore, the court noted that both proposals anticipated that additional 10 ROSE V. GUYER terms would be incorporated into a final plea agreement if Rose accepted the offer. Finding that the original and reoffered plea proposals were equivalent, the court concluded that Rose was not entitled to relief under Rule 70(a). 2 Rose then filed an application with the district court for a COA to appeal the denial of his Rule 70(a) motion. The district court denied Rose’s COA application, but noted that it was “not aware of any authority requiring a [COA] to issue from an order denying a motion under Rule 70.” The court also ordered that Rose’s application for a COA be treated as a timely notice of appeal. Because Rose did not obtain a COA from the district court, a motions panel of this Court considered whether to issue Rose a COA. Finding it “an open question as to whether a [COA] is required to appeal from the denial of a Rule 70 motion,” the motions panel referred Rose’s appeal to this panel “to determine whether a COA is required under 28 U.S.C. § 2253(c)(1)(A) and, if so, whether [Rose] is entitled to a COA.” The parties were also directed to brief the merits of Rose’s appeal.