Opinion ID: 2519000
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: plea bargains and the sixth amendment

Text: ¶ 8 The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant's right to counsel in order to protect the fundamental right to a fair trial. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 684, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984). The United States Supreme Court has recognized that the right to counsel is the right to the effective assistance of counsel, id. at 686, 104 S.Ct. 2052 (internal quotation marks omitted), and effective assistance is required during the plea process, Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52, 57, 106 S.Ct. 366, 88 L.Ed.2d 203 (1985). ¶ 9 In order to show ineffectiveness during plea negotiations, a defendant must show that counsel's performance was deficient and that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052; Hill, 474 U.S. at 57, 106 S.Ct. 366. If counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, her performance was deficient. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688, 104 S.Ct. 2052. Further, the defendant is prejudiced by counsel's actions only if the result of the proceedings would have been different absent the claimed deficiency. [3] Id. at 691, 104 S.Ct. 2052. [A] court need not determine whether counsel's performance was deficient before examining the prejudice suffered by the defendant as a result of the alleged deficiencies. Id. at 697, 104 S.Ct. 2052. ¶ 10 When the Supreme Court has applied the Sixth Amendment right to the plea process, it has considered whether an accepted guilty plea has prejudiced the defendant, Hill, 474 U.S. at 58, 106 S.Ct. 366, and not how the right applies when a defendant rejects a plea and proceeds with a fair trial. We too have considered the right in the context of guilty pleas. See State v. Rojas-Martinez, 2005 UT 86, ¶ 10, 125 P.3d 930; see also State v. Martinez, 2001 UT 12, 26 P.3d 203. But unlike the Supreme Court, we have had the opportunity to consider the Sixth Amendment right when a plea offer is rejected and the defendant proceeds with a fair trial. State v. Knight, 734 P.2d 913, 919 n. 7 (Utah 1987) (recognizing that the key difference between an accepted plea offer and a rejected plea offer is that in the latter case, the defendant does not waive his right to a fair trial); State v. Geary, 707 P.2d 645, 646 (Utah 1985) ([O]ur state and federal constitutions guarantee fair trials, not plea bargains.). Although we rejected the defendant's claim in Knight, we did so with little analysis, and therefore, we take this opportunity to elaborate on the Sixth Amendment's application to rejected plea bargains. ¶ 11 It is clear that defendants possess the right to the effective assistance of counsel in plea negotiations. The Supreme Court has recently reiterated, however, that the right to the effective assistance of counsel is grounded in the constitutional right to receive a fair trial. United States v. Gonzalez-Lopez, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 126 S.Ct. 2557, 2563, 165 L.Ed.2d 409 (2006) (recognizing that the right to effective assistance of counsel is derived from the right to a fair trial unlike the right to counsel of choice). The right is recognized not for its own sake, but because of the effect it has on the ability of the accused to receive a fair trial. Absent some effect of the challenged conduct on the reliability of the trial process, the Sixth Amendment guarantee is generally not implicated. United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 658, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1984). Thus, while Greuber did possess the right to effective assistance of counsel during the plea process, he could not ultimately have been prejudiced in this case because he received a trial that was fairthe fundamental right that the Sixth Amendment is designed to protect. Nothing in counsels' pretrial conduct suggests that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 686, 104 S.Ct. 2052. ¶ 12 Some courts applying the Sixth Amendment right in the context of a rejected plea offer have concluded that if the offer is rejected because of the ineffective assistance of counsel, the fact that the defendant subsequently receives a fair trial does not ameliorate the constitutional harm that occurred in the plea process. Commonwealth v. Mahar, 442 Mass. 11, 809 N.E.2d 989, 993 (2004). [4] Other courts have concluded, as we do, that a fair trial for the defendant generally negates the possibility of prejudice. [5] If an attorney's deficiency during the plea process somehow renders the trial unfair, then prejudice could result from a rejected plea offer. But in this case, the result was a fair trial; Greuber has not argued that his attorneys' failure to listen to the recordings rendered the trial's result unreliable or fundamentally unfair in any way. ¶ 13 In reaching our conclusion, we do not ignore the importance of the plea bargain as an essential component of the administration of justice. Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 260, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971). We recognize the widespread use of plea bargains and the importance of a defendant's decision to plead or go to trial. See Turner v. Tennessee, 664 F.Supp. 1113, 1119 (M.D.Tenn.1987). However, if a defendant rejects a plea offer based on his attorney's poor advice and is later convicted after a fair trial, he has not been deprived of a substantive or procedural right to which the law entitles him. Lockhart v. Fretwell, 506 U.S. 364, 372, 113 S.Ct. 838, 122 L.Ed.2d 180 (1993). There is no right to a plea offer or to a successful plea bargain. Instead, the defendant has lost merely an opportunity, one which may present itself to some defendants but not to others. Such opportunities can be contingent, time limited, or withdrawn as the prosecution reevaluates its case. An attorney's failure to properly investigate or assess evidence that might militate in favor of accepting a plea does not equate to the constitutional deprivation of a fair trial, especially when, as in this case, the defendant himself was aware of the facts that the attorney failed to uncover, and furthermore, at the time of the plea rejection, the evidence was not even available to the defendant's counsel. If a defendant has been convicted at a fair trial after rejecting, with the assistance of counsel, the plea opportunity, there is nothing `unreliable' or `fundamentally unfair' about imposing a sentence based on the conviction. Mahar, 809 N.E.2d at 997-98 (Sosman, J., concurring) (quoting Fretwell, 506 U.S. at 372, 113 S.Ct. 838). ¶ 14 If we were to hold that a defendant suffered prejudice even when he was afforded a fair trial, we would face the problematic task of fashioning an appropriate remedy for the claimed harm. Where ineffective assistance causes a defendant to plead guilty and waive his right to trial, the remedy is clear: permit the defendant to rescind his plea and allow him to go to trial. However, where the allegedly deficient performance of counsel causes a defendant to reject an opportunity to plead and to receive his constitutionally guaranteed fair trial, it is impossible to resuscitate the original opportunity. [6] Courts cannot recreate the balance of risks and incentives on both sides that existed prior to trial, and the attempts to do so raise their own serious constitutional problems. Mahar, 809 N.E.2d at 1001 (Sosman, J., concurring). ¶ 15 For example, some courts have required the prosecution to give the defendant the same offer he had before trial, even though the defendant has since been convicted at a fair trial. See, e.g., United States v. Blaylock, 20 F.3d 1458, 1468-69 (9th Cir. 1994). Under the doctrine of separation of powers, we do not believe courts have the power, in the absence of prosecutorial misconduct, to require the prosecution to dismiss charges, as would often be necessary to enact the earlier rejected plea. Mahar, 809 N.E.2d at 1001 (Sosman, J., concurring). Further, requiring the state to reoffer after trial a plea bargain it may have made originally to avoid the expense and risk of a trial violates separation of powers and basic fairness principles. Id. at 1002. ¶ 16 In recognition of these difficulties, other courts have instead granted the defendant a new trial. See, e.g., People v. Curry, 178 Ill.2d 509, 227 Ill.Dec. 395, 687 N.E.2d 877, 890 (1997); Larson v. State, 104 Nev. 691, 766 P.2d 261, 263 (1988); State v. Taccetta, 351 N.J.Super. 196, 797 A.2d 884, 888 (Ct.App.Div.2002). However, a new trial does not remedy the lost opportunity to plead. A new trial cannot restore the defendant's opportunity to plead guilty to lesser charges with lesser sentences. Mahar, 809 N.E.2d at 1002 (Sosman, J., concurring) (citing State v. Kraus, 397 N.W.2d 671, 674 (Iowa 1986) ([I]t is difficult to see how a new trial restores the lost chance of the bargain.)). In addition, ordering a new trial may sometimes constitute a thinly veiled attempt to force the prosecution to reinstate the initial offer. See In re Alvernaz, 2 Cal.4th 924, 8 Cal.Rptr.2d 713, 830 P.2d 747, 760 (1992) (allowing the prosecutor to resubmit the original plea or to elect within thirty days to retry the defendant and resume plea negotiations); see also Larson, 766 P.2d at 263 & n. 9; Taccetta, 797 A.2d at 888. Further, there is no guarantee that the delicate balance of witness availability and evidence will be the same after the first trial as it was at the time of the initial plea offer. If the witnesses are still available and the evidence in the prosecution's case has perhaps become stronger, a second, unnecessary trial will inevitably ensue. Mahar, 809 N.E.2d at 1002 (Sosman, J., concurring). On the other hand, if witnesses and evidence are not available, it is possible that a new trial will result in an acquittal, a `remedy' out of all proportion to the damage allegedly done by the ineffective assistance in connection with the earlier plea offer. Id. Finally, even if a plea offer is reinstated, there is no guarantee that the defendant will accept it, and presumably courts could not so require. Id. at 1002-03. ¶ 17 The unavailability of a rational remedy for ineffective assistance of counsel in the rejection of plea offers illustrates the flaws inherent in treating identically defendants who have received fair trials and those who have forgone trials and pled guilty. [7] Judges have long held themselves apart from the complex negotiations that characterize the plea bargaining process and have instead focused on their duty to ensure that defendants receive the fair trial to which they are constitutionally entitled. ¶ 18 Thus, we conclude that Greuber suffered no prejudice from his attorneys' failure to listen to the recordings because he received a fair trial. Additionally, we conclude that he suffered no prejudice based upon the factual findings of the district court. Conflicting evidence was presented to the court. Greuber maintained his innocence and testified that he would have taken the plea offer. His defense attorneys, however, testified that they did not believe Greuber would have accepted the plea, because he had expressed to them that he did not want to plead guilty to murder, and because dropping the aggravated kidnaping charge would have had only a nominal impact on his sentence. The district court was well within its discretion in giving more weight to the testimony of the attorneys than to Greuber's, and its factual determination was not clearly erroneous. Therefore, we affirm the trial court's conclusion that Greuber suffered no prejudice from his attorneys' failure to investigate because he would not have accepted the guilty plea in any event. Finding no prejudice in Greuber's rejection of the plea offer, we need not examine whether the performance of the attorneys in this case was actually deficient.