Opinion ID: 1603642
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Decision and Reasoning

Text: In determining the validity of agreements not to prosecute or of plea agreements, the courts generally refer to rules of contract law. State v. Nall, 379 So.2d 731 (La.1980); State v. Lewis, 539 So.2d 1199 (La.1989). Contractual principles may be helpful by analogy in deciding disputes involving plea agreements. Ricketts v. Adamson, 483 U.S. 1, 107 S.Ct. 2680, 97 L.Ed.2d 1 (1987); Cf. Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63, 97 S.Ct. 1621, 52 L.Ed.2d 136 (1977). However, the criminal defendant's constitutional right to fairness may be broader than his or her rights under contract laws. State v. Nall, 379 So.2d at 734 (Dennis, J., concurring). Moreover, commercial contract law can do no more than to serve as an analogy or point of departure, since plea agreements are constitutional contracts. Ricketts v. Adamson, 483 U.S. at 16, 107 S.Ct. at 2689. The Court further stated in Ricketts: The values that underlie commercial contract law, and that govern the relations between economic actors, are not coextensive with those that underlie the due Process Clause, and that govern relations between criminal defendants and the State. Unlike some commercial contracts, plea agreements must be construed in light of the rights and obligations created by the Constitution. 483 U.S. at 16, 107 S.Ct. at 2689. In State v. Nall, 379 So.2d 731 (La.1980), the prosecutor agreed to reduce a murder charge to manslaughter with a ten-year sentence in exchange for Nall's promise to testify against a companion in accordance with Nall's statement that his companion shot the victim during a residential burglary. After this agreement was reached, Nall gave an entirely different statement, asserting that he hired the companion to assist in murdering the victim because of Nall's romantic involvement with the victim's wife, and that he fired the first shot. This court held that when Nall's statement which prompted the agreement turned out to be false, the agreement fell because of failure of cause. The decision further noted that the agreement did not involve a bargain for immunity which is frequently troublesome because of the bargain's forced infringement on the right against self-incrimination. [7] Implicit in the court's decision was the consideration that the prosecutor's denial of immunity under the circumstances, irrespective of contract principles, did not violate any concepts of fundamental fairness. In State v. Lewis, 539 So.2d 1199 (La. 1989), the defendant entered into a written agreement with the district attorney of Rapides Parish and others in a complex factual situation involving separate state charges in several parishes as well as federal charges. The defendant's efforts led to the recovery of several tractors stolen from Rapides Parish valued in excess of $125,000, and he admitted participation in and gave information about several other crimes. However, when he denied responsibility for the arson of his former girlfriend's vehicle, the state concluded he had breached his plea bargain, and several prosecutions went forward. This court noted that the defendant enjoyed equitable immunity as to the prosecution in Rapides Parish. As to the prosecutions in other parishes, this court held that the contract failed because both parties believed they bargained for something other than what they were actually to get; however, on the basis of constitutional fundamental fairness, this court barred use of the incriminating statements in those prosecutions because the statements were given under the reasonable belief that they would not be used against him. In State v. Tanner, 425 So.2d 760 (La. 1983), the prosecutor and defense counsel reached an agreement whereby the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the prosecution of the defendant on two counts of negligent homicide arising out of an automobile accident if the defendant and his witness testified before the grand jury and the grand jury returned a no true bill. Waiving his privilege against self-incrimination without receiving immunity from use of the testimony, the defendant and the witness testified, and the grand jury issued a no true bill. However, the prosecutor did not dismiss the information, stating that he did not remember making an express promise to do so while admitting that defense counsel could logically have concluded that the charges would be dismissed in the event of a favorable conclusion to the proceeding. This court held that the prosecutor had entered into an agreement binding upon the state which could not be repudiated after the defendant, in reliance on the agreement, relinquished such a fundamental right as the privilege against self-incrimination. In effect, the decision turned on the defendant's constitutional right to fundamental fairness irrespective of his commercial contract rights. In the present case, we refer first to the law of contracts for application by analogy in determining whether a contract was formed. A contract is formed by the consent of the parties established through offer and acceptance. La.Civ.Code art. 1927. The offer and acceptance may be verbal unless the law prescribes a requirement of writing. Id.; Laroussini v. Werlein, 52 La.Ann. 424, 27 So. 89 (1900). Once there is an offer and acceptance, the agreement is subject to specific performance. La.Civ.Code art. 1986. The party demanding performance of a contract has the burden of proving its existence. Phillips v. Insilco Sports Network, Inc., 429 So.2d 447 (La.App.4th Cir.1983). Moreover, the obligation may be dependent upon an uncertain event. La.Civ.Code art. 1767. A lawful cause is also necessary to the existence of a contract. La.Civ.Code art. 1966. The cause is the reason why a party obligates himself. La.Civ.Code art. 1967. Here, defense counsel offered defendant's promise to supply information about drug sources and cooperation with drug enforcement agents in exchange for the prosecutor's promise not to prosecute defendant for the March 1991 incident. The prosecutor's accepted the offer, conditioning the acceptance upon (1) the DEA's determination that defendant could supply information about a drug source and assistance that the DEA considered beneficial, and (2) defendant's actually providing the information and assistance. [8] No formal writing was required, either by law or by either party as a prerequisite to the validity of his consent. [9] Therefore, the prosecutor's own testimony established by a preponderance of the evidence that the parties exchanged promises and thereby formed a contract by consent, conditioned on the DEA's approval. [10] The contract, after the offer and acceptance, was not enforceable until the occurrence of the uncertain event which was a suspensive condition of the contract, namely the determination by the DEA that defendant's information and assistance was useful and beneficial. See La.Civ.Code art. 1767. Defendant met in good faith with the DEA agent and incriminated himself by revealing names, dates and places of the supplier's activities and stating how he could assist the DEA in obtaining evidence. The DEA agent then notified the prosecutor that the agency desired defendant's information and assistance, and wanted him to work with the agency in developing evidence against the named drug supplier. The agent requested the document authorizing defendant's release from probation, and the prosecutor agreed to obtain the document, in effect acknowledging the existence of an agreement and the fulfillment of the suspensive condition. Under contract law, each party was bound to complete performance of the reciprocal obligations. Considerations of constitutional fairness generally come into play after the formation of an agreement not to prosecute, and generally involve the performance of the defendant's obligations under the agreement. In the present case, it is undisputed that defendant did not completely perform his obligations under the agreement. The central issue is whether defendant's failure to perform completely bars his right to enforce the agreement. After the agreement was formed, the prosecutor attempted to repudiate the contract when he was informed of defendant's continuing illegal drug operations. Yet there was no evidence that the parties agreed, at the time of the formation of the contract, to a requirement for defendant to refrain from criminal conduct as a cause of the contract. Nor did the parties agree at the time that defendant's engaging in criminal conduct would be a resolutory condition. On this record, the prosecutor did not attempt to impose such a requirement until long after both parties had given their consent to the contract, and such a requirement under contract law would be a new contract or a modification of the original contract, either of which would require that both parties consent anew. Furthermore, as the expert pointed out, the requirement could not be viewed under contract law as implied in the contract because the state was free, irrespective of the contract, to prosecute defendant for any criminal conduct after the formation of the contract. [11] The prosecutor contends, however, that defendant's continuing involvement in illegal drug activities was inconsistent with his obligation under the agreement to cooperate with the government. Perhaps defendant's personal transporting of illegal drugs after the formation of the agreement could have constituted a breach of his general obligations under the agreement and extinguished the prosecutor's obligation to perform, but we need not address that issue because the prosecutor presented no evidence of continuing criminal activity to support his argument of a breach. [12] The record establishes that defendant stood ready and willing to complete the performance of his contractual obligations by working cooperatively with the DEA in obtaining evidence against his drug source, but the other contracting party prevented that performance by failing to obtain the release from probation required by the DEA. The DEA also stood ready and willing to accept defendant's performance. Moreover, defendant incriminated himself by giving information about his involvement in large scale drug dealings. Under such circumstances, contract law regards the obligation as fulfilled. La.Civ.Code art. 1772. Additionally, constitutional principles dictate that when the prosecutor in a criminal case himself causes the non-occurrence of the condition which would give rise to his obligation not to prosecute, the obligation becomes absolute. See United States v. San Pedro, 781 F.Supp. 761 (S.D.Fla.1991); Jay M. Zitter, Annotation, Enforceability of Agreement By Law Enforcement Officials Not To Prosecute. If Accused Would Help In Criminal Investigation Or Would Become Witness Against Others, 32 A.L.R. 4th 990 (1984). This case, therefore, is different from the Nall case in at least three respects. First, this case does involve an immunity agreement in which the defendant relinquished his right against self-incrimination and provided inculpatory statements about drug activities unrelated to the March 1991 cocaine possession. Second, the defendant in Nall, after the agreement based on a forthcoming statement mitigating his own culpability and implicating his companion, gave a statement which implicated himself and had little value to the prosecutor in establishing the companion's culpability in the crime. On the contrary, the defendant in this case gave the DEA the information expected of him and stood ready and willing to assist the DEA in obtaining evidence against the drug source, which assistance the DEA stood ready and willing to accept until the prosecutor attempted to withdraw from the agreement. Third, unlike the Nall case, there was no justification in this record for the prosecutor to refuse to complete the agreement himself or to refuse to allow defendant to fulfill his obligation. Finally, there are no other constitutional considerations in this case which would apply to broaden the scope of contract law. Indeed, because of defendant's relinquishment of his right against self-incrimination, any constitutional considerations flow in favor of immunity from prosecution. Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeal is set aside, and the motion to quash the indictment is granted.