Opinion ID: 3030685
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Remedy For Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

Text: Upon concluding that Riggs was denied effective assistance of counsel, the district court vacated Riggs’ jury conviction and three-strikes sentence for petty theft with a prior. The district court ordered the parties to return to the pre-error stage of the criminal proceeding. The district court determined that the appropriate pre-error stage of the criminal proceeding was the plea bargain stage. Despite Riggs’ urging, the district court declined to order the government to reinstate the fiveyear plea offer. Riggs argues on appeal that specific performance of the state’s five-year plea offer is the only appropriate remedy in this case. [6] Once a determination has been made that habeas relief is warranted, the district court has considerable discretion in fashioning a remedy “tailored to the injury suffered from the constitutional violation . . .” United States v. Morrison, 449 U.S. 361, 364 (1981). The Supreme Court has instructed that “[f]ederal habeas corpus practice, as reflected by the decisions of this Court, indicates that a court has broad discretion in conditioning a judgment granting habeas relief. Federal courts are authorized, under 28 U.S.C. § 2243, to dispose of habeas corpus matters ‘as law and justice require.’ ” Hilton v. Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 775 (1987) (internal quotation marks omitted). Therefore, unless the district court abused its discretion in fashioning a remedy, that remedy must stand. Nunes, 350 F.3d 1056-57. RIGGS v. FAIRMAN 2801 [7] When ineffective assistance of counsel has deprived a defendant of a plea bargain, a court may choose to vacate the conviction and return the parties to the plea bargaining stage. See United States v. Gordon, 156 F.3d 376, 381-82 (2d Cir. 1998). A court may also order the government to reinstate its original plea offer to the defendant or release the defendant within a reasonable amount of time. See Nunes, 350 F.3d at 1056-57 (9th Cir. 2003).4 In deciding the proper remedy, a court must consider the unique facts and circumstances of the particular case. See Morrison, 449 U.S. at 364. [8] As the district court noted, neither of the options described above offers a perfect solution. Riggs v. Fairman, 178 F.Supp.2d 1141, 1152-53 (C.D. Cal. 2001). If the prosecution were ordered to reinstate its original plea offer to Riggs, the government would be forced to repeat the same mistake it made years ago. On the other hand, returning the parties to the negotiation stage does not restore the lost plea opportunity. Weighing both of these considerations, the district court held that “[t]he least inappropriate remedy, therefore, would appear to be the vacation of the conviction and the return of the parties to the pre-error stage.” Id. at 1154. The district court aptly noted that as a matter of policy, requiring the government to re-offer Riggs the five-year deal is troubling in light of the fact that under California law, plea bargains are not binding on the parties until “a defendant pleads guilty or otherwise detrimentally relies on that bargain.” People v. Rhoden, 75 Cal.App.4th 1346, 1354 (1999). Therefore, even if Riggs had accepted the five-year plea offer, the government may have realized its mistake prior to the court’s acceptance of the plea agreement. Upon realizing its 4 We note that in Nunes, we were called upon to decide whether the district court abused its discretion when it ordered specific performance of the original plea offer. The fact that we affirmed the remedy fashioned by the district court in that case reinforces the discretion that lies with the district court, and does not suggest that a particular remedy is mandated in any given case. 2802 RIGGS v. FAIRMAN mistake, the government would have had the right to unilaterally invalidate the plea agreement. Because the district court properly considered the effect of California law and weighed the competing considerations raised by the parties, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in returning the parties to the plea bargain stage of the proceedings. IV.