Opinion ID: 3065342
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rejected Plea Offer

Text: On October 23, 2002, Forrester waived his right to counsel under Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975) (the Faretta hearing). However, during the Faretta hearing colloquy, the district court incorrectly advised Forrester that he faced 10 years-to-life in prison, whereas he actually faced zero-to-20 years in prison. Forrester I, 512 F.3d at 507. The government did not correct the court’s erroneous advice. On July 3, 2003 (five days before trial), the government extended a plea offer to Forrester and Alba. The government told Forrester that if both he and Alba accepted the “package deal,” Forrester could limit his exposure to 20 years. The gov- 4 Forrester pleaded guilty and thus waived his right to a jury trial. His guilty plea thus stands in the place of a jury’s findings. See United States v. Banuelos, 322 F.3d 700, 709 n.3 (9th Cir. 2003) (Tallman, J., dissenting in part) (citing United States v. Sanchez, 269 F.3d 1250, 1272 n.2 (11th Cir. 2001)). 5 See supra note 2. 318 UNITED STATES v. FORRESTER ernment stated that if the plea offer was not accepted by 2:00 pm that same day, it would file a sentence enhancement pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 851. The offer was not accepted by either Forrester or Alba, and the government filed the § 851 enhancement, thereby enhancing Forrester’s maximum penalty from 20 to 30 years. See 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(C). The case proceeded to trial and Forrester was convicted, and sentenced to the maximum of 30 years. We reversed, finding a defective waiver of counsel due to the district court’s erroneous sentencing advisement during the Faretta hearing. Forrester I, 512 F.3d at 505-09. Following remand, Forrester filed a motion requesting that the district court strike the § 851 enhancement and allow him to plead guilty without the enhancement because he had been misadvised of the potential penalties at the Faretta hearing. The district court denied the motion, stating: Well, the government has the right to file anything they think, any conduct or convictions they think they can prove. With regard to misadvising him of the maximum penalty, you are absolutely correct I did misadvise him. No question about that. ... In any event, I don’t think there is anything inappropriate for the government having filed that 851 allegation. I understand your honor [sic] position, but your request that I have it stricken or dismissed is denied. Forrester then pleaded guilty and was sentenced (again) to the 30-year maximum. Forrester alleges that the district court erred by failing to dismiss the § 851 sentence enhancement due to its prior sentencing miscalculation, thereby depriving him of the opportunity to make a knowing and intelligent UNITED STATES v. FORRESTER 319 decision to accept an earlier plea offer that did not include the enhancement. [8] Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(b) states that the court must hold a hearing and inform a defendant of, and determine that he understands, “any maximum possible penalty, including imprisonment, fine, and term of supervised release” and “any mandatory minimum penalty,” before it accepts his guilty plea (the plea hearing). FED. R. CRIM. P. 11(b)(1)(H) & (I). A failure to ensure that a defendant understands his range of exposure may violate the requirement that a guilty plea be “knowing and voluntary.” See, e.g., Tanner v. McDaniel, 493 F.3d 1135, 1146 (9th Cir. 2007) (holding that guilty plea is voluntary and knowing only if defendant understands the range of allowable punishment that will result from his plea). Forrester’s case differs from the standard situation where pleas are found involuntary due to misinformation about the potential sentence in two ways: (1) Forrester rejected the plea offered to him, and (2) the court misinformed him of his exposure during a Faretta hearing rather than during a plea hearing. [9] “[T]here is no constitutional right to plea bargain.” Weatherford v. Bursey, 429 U.S. 545, 561 (1977). Nonetheless, defendants who plead guilty are given the protection of the “voluntary and intelligent” requirement because, in pleading guilty, they are relinquishing fundamental constitutional rights. See FED. R. CRIM. P. 11(b) (detailing defendant’s right to plead not guilty, to a jury trial, to have counsel, to confront witnesses, and to present evidence). However, the voluntary and intelligent requirement has never been extended to rejections of plea offers. When a defendant turns down a guilty plea, he is giving up only the opportunity to limit his exposure to the terms of that plea. Forrester argues that, once a plea offer has been made, a defendant has a right to be accurately informed about his potential exposure before deciding to reject it. He relies on 320 UNITED STATES v. FORRESTER Nunes v. Mueller, a habeas case in which an attorney misinformed the defendant that he had received a plea offer for 22 years as opposed to 11 years. 350 F.3d 1045 (9th Cir. 2003). In Nunes, we suggested that the right to make an informed decision about a plea is a corollary to the right to voluntarily and intelligently plead guilty. Id. at 1053 (“The right that Nunes claims he lost was not the right to a fair trial or the right to a plea bargain, but the right to participate in the decision as to, and to decide, his own fate—a right also clearly found in Supreme Court law.”). In that case, we ordered the reinstatement of Nunes’ original plea offer, rather than the more common remedy of a new trial, in order to “put the defendant back in the position he would have been in if the Sixth Amendment violation never occurred.” Id. at 1057 (internal quotation marks omitted). [10] Nunes was based on the well-founded constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel. Id. at 1051-1054. For Nunes to apply here, we would have to find that Forrester suffered a similar unconstitutional deprivation of rights that tainted his rejection of the plea offer. We decline to do so on these facts. Though a defendant may have a right to voluntarily and intelligently reject a plea offer, we need not reach that question in this case because any error was harmless. See Bains v. Cambra, 204 F.3d 964, 971 n.3 (9th Cir. 2000) (reciting Chapman “harmless beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for constitutional trial type errors). First, Forrester was offered a “package deal” with Alba. Because Alba rejected the deal, Forrester could not unilaterally have accepted it even if he had been aware of his actual potential sentence. Indeed, Alba had no incentive to accept the plea, as the threatened enhancement did not affect his exposure because he already faced life in prison on a continuing criminal enterprise count. [11] Second, Forrester’s maximum and minimum possible sentences were overstated. Forrester was offered a 20-year UNITED STATES v. FORRESTER 321 cap on his sentence when he thought he faced 10-to-life if he went to trial. In rejecting the offer to cap his exposure at 20 years, he risked receiving what he thought was a life sentence for the potential benefit of being acquitted. He now claims that, had he known that he actually faced a potential sentence of 0-to-30 years (with the enhancement), he would have foregone risking the 30-year maximum and accepted the deal to cap his exposure at 20 years. In other words, he says he was willing to risk receiving 10-to-life for the possibility of acquittal, but would not have been willing to take his chances at 0-to-30. We find this argument counterintuitive. Though it is certainly possible that a misinformed defendant may reject a plea that he otherwise would have taken, that was undoubtedly not the case here. Cf. United States v. Stubbs, 279 F.3d 402, 411 (6th Cir. 2002) (“When the maximum possible sentence is overstated, the defendant might well be influenced to accept a plea agreement he would otherwise reject.” (emphasis added) (internal quotation marks omitted)).6 Therefore, the district court’s denial of the motion to strike the enhancement was proper.