Opinion ID: 1353881
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Is Withdrawal of an Illegal Plea Always Required?

Text: Although a defendant may generally withdraw a plea bargain calling for an illegal sentence, it is unclear whether the same remedy should apply when the state court modifies the sentence, making it consistent with the law and giving the defendant the benefit he bargained for in his original agreement. Some circuits have held that such cases should be excepted from the general rule, because a defendant's due process rights are not violated when an illegal plea is reconciled with the law. The Eighth Circuit, for example, held that [w]ithdrawal of the plea may be unnecessary when the agreed-on sentence exceeds the sentence authorized by law and the government accepts a sentence reduced to the legal term.... Greatwalker, 285 F.3d at 730. Likewise, the Fourth Circuit reached this conclusion with respect to a plea whereby defendant agreed to serve 15 years without parole on a federal charge, but with credit for time served on analogous state charges. United States v. Dean, No. 92-6494, 1993 WL 40900 (4th Cir. Feb.18, 1993). In that case, the Bureau of Prisons subsequently determined that a federal statute (later repealed) barred such credit. Id. at  1. To accommodate the defendant, the government proposed the defendant's fifteen-year sentence be lowered by the 623 days he served in state custody. The Fourth Circuit held this accommodation provided Dean the same sentence contemplated by the terms of the plea agreement, thus eliminating the need to allow him to withdraw his plea. Id. at . This is an issue of first impression for the Sixth Circuit, and we hold that when a sentence is modified to make it consistent with state law and to give the defendant the benefit of his original plea agreement, the Constitution does not require the withdrawal of a once-illegal plea. This outcome is not only consistent with the law, it is fair to those who enter plea agreements. After all, if a defendant accused of two crimes is willing to serve two sentences concurrently, logic dictates that the defendant would be equally amendable to serving the same sentence for the more serious crime with the other charge being dropped. Federal courts have broad discretion in conditioning a judgment granting habeas corpus relief, and may dispose of habeas corpus cases `as law and justice require.' Hilton v. Braunskill, 481 U.S. 770, 775, 107 S.Ct. 2113, 95 L.Ed.2d 724 (1987); see 28 U.S.C. § 2243. And we hold that it is unnecessary to permit a person to withdraw an illegal plea or require the state to retry a case when the defendant's sentence has been modified to make the sentence legal and to give the defendant every benefit of his bargain.