Opinion ID: 78503
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hart's Plea Agreements

Text: Plaintiff Hart was the Assistant Chief of Police of the Dougherty County, Georgia Police Department. In 2000, in federal court in Georgia, Hart was indicted on three felony charges of false declaration before a grand jury, wire fraud, and engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from a specific unlawful activity, all in connection with an unlawful payment he allegedly received in exchange for declining to investigate a blackmail scheme. Around the same time, Hart also was indicted on eight state felony charges in state court, all arising out of the same events. Hart entered into plea negotiations with the prosecuting Assistant United States Attorney in the federal case and Defendant Hodges in the state case. Pursuant to plea agreements in both cases, Hart agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a recommendation from the Assistant United States Attorney for a federal sentencing range of 18 to 24 months' imprisonment, followed by supervised release. Hart agreed to plead guilty in exchange for an agreement that his state sentence would be the same as his federal sentence and that the state and federal sentences would run concurrently. On February 27, 2001, the federal district court sentenced Hart to 27 months' imprisonment. The State Plea and Sentence Recommendation, signed two days after Hart's federal sentencing, stated that District Attorney Hodges would recommend a total state sentence of 10 years, to be served by a term in Prison/Jail [of] 27 months, concurrent with the Federal sentence, followed by a term of probation of 93 months. [2] On March 1, 2001, Plaintiff Hart appeared at a sentencing hearing in the state case. Defendant Hodges explained the 27-month federal sentence and stated that Hart's agreement with the state called for a sentence of 27 months followed by 93 months of probation, to run concurrent with his federal sentence. Hodges and the state trial court agreed with Hart's attorney's statement that Hart would receive no more time to serve under the state sentence than under the federal sentence: [HART'S COUNSEL]: Your Honor, I  I  everything Mr. Hodges said, of course, is true. The only thing I would like to add to that is that, as the plea agreement points out, the sentence to be handed down by Your Honor is to run concurrent with the Federal sentence, so that actually he's getting no more time to serve that [sic] what he's already serving in the Federal institution. THE COURT: Okay. MR. HODGES: I though [sic] I'd said that, but that's correct. [HART'S COUNSEL]: You may have. If so I . . . MR. HODGES: That is correct.