Opinion ID: 1253025
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Plea Deadline.

Text: Plea bargaining has long been recognized as an essential component of the administration of justice. Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 260, 92 S.Ct. 495, 498, 30 L.Ed.2d 427, 432 (1971). Foremost, [i]t leads to the prompt and... final disposition of most criminal cases.... Id. at 261, 92 S.Ct. at 498, 30 L.Ed.2d at 432. This affords the prosecutor additional leverage in prosecuting other crimes, and allows defendants who acknowledge guilt to spare themselves and the public an expensive trial. See United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 584, 88 S.Ct. 1209, 1217-18, 20 L.Ed.2d 138, 148 (1968). Yet, as common as plea agreements are in our criminal justice system, a defendant has no constitutional right to have a court accept a guilty plea. Wenzel, 306 N.W.2d at 771. Instead, courts have discretion to refuse to accept [a] guilty plea[ ]. Farley v. Glanton, 280 N.W.2d 411, 415 (Iowa 1979); see Iowa R.Crim. P. 8(2)(b) (court may refuse to accept a plea of guilty). This discretion is necessary in light of the variety of considerations inherent in the process. There may be a number of reasons for courts to refuse to accept a plea bargain. Those reasons, however, have normally centered on doubts with the defendant's guilt. See Farley, 280 N.W.2d at 413-16 (trial court refused to accept plea when it believed defendant had possible entrapment defense); see also State v. Marsan, 221 N.W.2d 278, 280 (Iowa 1974) (no requirement that court refuse plea when record supported defendant's guilt). This case presents the first time we have considered the court's ability to refuse a plea bargain because it was presented after deadlines for pleas established by the court. The discretion possessed by trial courts to refuse to accept a guilty plea is broad but not unlimited. Farley, 280 N.W.2d at 415. Yet, the parameters of this discretion have no clear lines, and there are no established criteria or standards to consider in the exercise of discretion. United States v. Robertson, 45 F.3d 1423, 1437 (10th Cir.1995) (citing 1 Charles Alan Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure § 175.1 (1982)). Thus, we must examine the boundaries of this discretion by considering whether it is broad enough to permit a trial court to reject a plea offer for the sole reason that it is made after the expiration of a deadline for pleas. A number of courts have held that a trial court acts within its discretion by refusing to accept a plea agreement tendered after a plea deadline. See United States v. Gamboa, 166 F.3d 1327, 1331 (11th Cir.1999); United States v. Ellis, 547 F.2d 863, 868 (5th Cir.1977); People v. Cobb, 139 Cal.App.3d 578, 188 Cal.Rptr. 712, 716 (1983); People v. Jasper, 17 P.3d 807, 813-14 (Colo.2001); People v. Grove, 455 Mich. 439, 566 N.W.2d 547, 558 (1997); State v. Brimage, 271 N.J.Super. 369, 638 A.2d 904, 908-09 (App.Div.1994). Other courts have determined that trial courts abuse their discretion by rejecting plea agreements because they did not meet a guilty plea deadline. See United States v. Shepherd, 102 F.3d 558, 562-63 (D.C.Cir. 1996); Robertson, 45 F.3d at 1438; United States v. Moore, 916 F.2d 1131, 1135-36 (6th Cir.1990); State v. Sears, 208 W.Va. 700, 542 S.E.2d 863, 867-68 (2000); see also Hare v. Superior Ct., 133 Ariz. 540, 652 P.2d 1387, 1388-90 (1982) (rule imposing deadlines on the acceptance of pleas exceeded court's jurisdiction). Although the factual circumstances in some of these cases may be responsible for producing the outcome, the pivotal dispute among the various courts centers on the balancing of the myriad of competing interests. On one hand, there are many factors which weigh against the exercise of discretion to refuse to accept a guilty plea because it was presented after a guilty plea deadline. Plea agreements are not solely within the realm of courts. See Robertson, 45 F.3d at 1437-38. The differing roles of the court and the prosecutor within our system of justice can either broaden or narrow the discretion of courts to reject pleas depending on the type of plea agreement presented. While plea agreements that impact sentencing powers of courts generally fall within the discretion of the court, plea bargains which involve charging decisions are primarily within the discretion of the prosecutor. See id. at 1437. Thus, the court's role becomes limited when the plea agreement presented to the court does not bind the sentencing powers of the court. See United States v. Miller, 722 F.2d 562, 564 (9th Cir.1983); United States v. Maggio, 514 F.2d 80, 82 (5th Cir.1975). The doctrine of separation of powers compels the judiciary to give respect to the independence of the executive branch. Miller, 722 F.2d at 565. When a plea agreement does not directly impact the sentencing powers of the court, as in this case, the decision to reduce the charges primarily rests with the discretion of the prosecutor. See id. at 564-66. This discretion is impeded when the court exercises its discretion by refusing to accept the plea. See id. at 566. Plea agreements also affect fundamental interests of the defendant. Although the defendant has no constitutional right to present a plea, the process nevertheless involves interests as fundamental as freedom and imprisonment. See id. at 565. In the context of sentencing, where these same interests are present, we demand independent consideration by the sentencing court in each case, and reject the use of fixed policies. See State v. Jackson, 204 N.W.2d 915, 917 (Iowa 1973). Likewise, a fixed policy should not be followed in rejecting plea agreements. See Miller, 722 F.2d at 564-65. The exercise of discretion in the area of imprisonment and freedom has been one of the hallmarks of our judicial system. On the other hand, it is important for our legal system to be effectively and efficiently administered. Consequently, the efficient processing of a case has become an important element in the administration of our courts, and a plea deadline in criminal cases is one method commonly utilized by courts to help manage increasing demands on the criminal dockets. Deadlines are a way to help distinguish those cases that do not ultimately need a trial from those cases that require a trial, at a point in the process to help ensure that the time and resources involved in the preparation for trial are not devoted to those cases that will ultimately be resolved by a guilty plea. A plea deadline becomes a cutoff point for administrative purposes, and enables the court to direct its trial resources to those cases in which the parties do not reach a plea agreement by a certain date. This is not only important to the efficient operation of our criminal docket, but also to the overall operation of our court system. Criminal cases are given priority over most civil cases. Consequently, civil trials are delayed when criminal cases are scheduled for trial but ultimately settled on the morning of trial by a plea bargain. See Cobb, 188 Cal. Rptr. at 713-14. Additionally, strict adherence to guilty plea deadlines is justified as a means of giving the deadline integrity. See Ellis, 547 F.2d at 868. If parties are allowed to submit plea agreements after the deadline has passed, it would render the deadline meaningless. Id. Thus, deadlines operate with uniformity to all litigants. Those courts that have approved plea deadlines have generally determined that the traditional deference given to prosecutors to reduce charges and the interest of the defendant to plead guilty are outweighed by the needed judicial discretion to control the court schedule and effectively utilize court resources. See Gamboa, 166 F.3d at 1331; Ellis, 547 F.2d at 868; Grove, 566 N.W.2d at 558. Thus, they consider the discretion to refuse to accept a plea bargain to be broad enough for the court to reject plea bargains presented after a deadline. Id. Moreover, these courts recognize that court-imposed plea deadlines have good cause exceptions which permit some late pleas to be accepted and to overcome any claims of arbitrary action. See Jasper, 17 P.3d at 814. The trial court in this case, in rejecting the late plea tendered by Hager, followed the rationale articulated by those courts which have approved plea deadlines. In particular, it observed that it was necessary to strictly adhere to the deadline in this particular case in order to achieve the greater overall goal of efficient management of our entire court system. In our consideration of the competing interests at stake, we recognize the vital need to administer courts in an efficient manner. However, efficiency must always be compatible with fairness, and fairness must consider the fundamental principles which drive our system of justice and the rights and liberties of each individual. There are many procedures courts could employ that would quickly eliminate backlogs and enable our legal system to run with the efficiency of an assembly line, but they are not implemented because they would offend the principles fundamental to our system of justice. Plea deadlines not only adversely impact prosecutorial discretion and individual interests, but strict adherence to deadlines impedes the very discretion of the court. Like the use of a fixed policy in sentencing, a fixed plea deadline is the very antithesis of discretionary decision-making. See Jackson, 204 N.W.2d at 916. It precludes the exercise of discretion. See Miller, 722 F.2d at 565. A court abuses its discretion when it fails to exercise any discretion. The State argues the plea deadline in this case was not actually fixed because it included a good cause exception. Thus, the State asserts that the court did not strictly adhere to the deadline but necessarily considered any good cause ground that would have permitted a late plea. The State claims the good cause component to the deadline renders the decision-making process discretionary. It is important to observe that the good cause exception to the deadline in the case was not broad enough to include a mere change of mind or a renegotiation of the plea bargain by the parties. Thus, the deadline is fixed for litigants, like Hager, who simply change their mind after the plea deadline. Moreover, the sole reason the court rejected the plea in this case was because it was late. The court strictly adhered to the deadline and refused to consider the individual pressures and indecision faced by Hager. In balancing the need for deadlines against the fundamental principles which are impacted by deadlines, we further recognize that the underlying rationale supporting the deadlines is flawed. While deadlines are imposed as a means to eliminate the expense and time of assembling witnesses, jurors, and others for a trial that never occurs because the defendant pleads guilty on the morning of trial, the refusal to accept such a plea on the morning of trial only compounds the time and expense when the parties are forced to try the case. The trial may last several days or weeks, and the expense is actually increased exponentially. Moreover, the function of a jury and the other components of a trial can at times extend beyond those matters that ultimately result in a verdict. At times, the very presence of a jury on the morning of trial can engender a desire from the defendant to plead guilty that cannot be replicated at any prior time in the process. Thus, the jury's function to help resolve cases can be performed at times by its mere presence on the morning of trial. If the process results in a conclusion to a case on the morning of trial which was not possible the day before, the time and resources devoted to the case were not wasted. It is also important to consider that a criminal case that concludes by a trial often continues to burden the court system with the expense of an appeal, as in this case, or other postconviction proceedings. On the other hand, a plea of guilty results in the waiver of a variety of rights, and normally concludes the case without the expense of further proceedings. See State v. Hook, 623 N.W.2d 865, 867 (Iowa 2001). In balancing administrative benefits of deadlines against those rudimentary principles which are impacted by the deadlines, we observe that our system of justice has some costs that cannot be necessarily eliminated or reduced by principles of efficiency recognized in private business or even in other aspects of government. Our system of justice must strive to be efficient, but efficiency in a justice system does not necessarily have the same meaning as it does in the operation of a business. The goals are different. Justice cannot be produced by an assembly line, and the principles of court administration must not become detached from those principles which lie at the heart of our system of justice. Instead, they must work in harmony with those basic principles inherent in our concept of a justice system. We conclude the trial court in this case abused its discretion by refusing to consider the terms of the plea agreement solely because it was presented after the deadline for pleas set by the court. A missed plea deadline, alone, will not support the refusal to accept a plea agreement. There must be additional reasons. These additional reasons are broad and fall within the ambit of the court's power over the administration of justice. See United States v. Severino, 800 F.2d 42, 46 (2d Cir.1986) (court may reject plea if it has reasonable grounds to believe it would be contrary to the sound administration of justice). They may relate to the terms of the plea bargain, the proper disposition of the case, or even any underlying impunity by a defendant toward the efforts by the court to control its docket through deadlines. Thus, a court could act within its discretion to refuse to accept a guilty plea after a missed deadline if the defendant ignores the deadline by making no reasonable effort to reach a plea agreement prior to the deadline. Courts are given discretion in this area of the law, and fail to exercise it by strictly adhering to a plea deadline. The benefits of strict adherence to plea deadlines do not outweigh the need for judges to exercise discretion, the deference to the discretion of prosecutors, and the rights of the defendant. Moreover, Hager clearly suffered prejudice by the abuse of discretion. See Shepherd, 102 F.3d at 563.