Opinion ID: 340660
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Enforcement of the Plea Bargain.

Text: 21 The State raises three arguments grounded in contract law which dispute the validity of the negotiated agreement. First, the State contends that stolen property cannot serve as consideration for a bargain. The State also asserts that Palermo materially breached the bargain by failing to return all of the jewelry. Finally, the State claims that any parole promise was outside the scope of prosecutorial authority and not binding on the State. 22 Although we noted last term that principles of contract, evolving as they do from the commercial world, are inapposite to the ends of criminal justice, United States ex rel. Selikoff v. Com. of Corr., 524 F.2d 650, 654 (2d Cir. 1975), this Court has not previously examined the extent to which the contractual defenses would be applied to plea bargaining in the criminal justice system. 11 Guiding our analysis is the Supreme Court's recognition of plea bargaining as an essential component of the administration of justice. Properly administered, it is to be encouraged. Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 260, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971). The Court further stated, however, that the plea bargaining process must be attended by safeguards to insure the defendant what is reasonably due in the circumstances. Id. at 262, 92 S.Ct. at 499. 23 The first contractual defense raised is that the return of the jewels is unlawful consideration because Palermo had no legal right to conceal or withhold stolen property. The State analogizes the instant agreement to one made with kidnappers who hold hostages at the time the ransom is negotiated. We believe the facts of this case render the analogy inappropriate and that the State should be estopped from raising this defense at such a late date. 24 The State claims that the district court's decision sanctifies the return of some of the stolen loot and defies the basic purpose of law. We do not agree. It must be remembered that Palermo claimed that he was innocent of the Provident robbery throughout the bargaining. That bargaining was initiated by the Queens prosecutors when Palermo and Saltzman were in jail for an unrelated crime. Although the parties extensively negotiated what benefits would accrue to Palermo and Saltzman, the prosecutors' objective at all times was effecting the return of the jewels. In addition, it must be remembered that, as part of the bargain, Palermo pleaded guilty to the Provident robbery and the Utica charge. Furthermore, at no time during the negotiations or after Palermo had achieved the return of the goods did the prosecutors express any dissatisfaction with the jewelry serving as consideration for the bargain. Indeed that office widely publicized its success in painstaking(ly) negotiat(ing) the return of the stolen property. 25 The cases cited by appellants to support their argument are inapposite, involving bargains negotiated under extreme duress, United States v. Gorham, 173 U.S.App.D.C. 139, 523 F.2d 1088 (1975) (promise of immunity from prosecution given by hostage being mistreated during prison riot), or civil lawsuits for specific performance of a contract solicited by a wrongdoer, Stamatiou v. United States Gypsum Co., 400 F.Supp. 431 (N.D.Ill.1975) (civil suit for specific performance by plaintiff who first committed theft under state law and then proposed bargain with owner for return of property). Thus, whether by notions of fundamental fairness or contract principles of estoppel, 12 we must reject the State's belated and rather disingenuous challenge to the consideration used to support the bargain. 26 The State's assertion that Palermo materially breached the terms of the bargain by not returning all of the stolen jewelry is equally unpersuasive. We first note that evidently the amount and value of the property stolen was never precisely determined. Moreover, in both its press release and its letter to the Parole Board, the district attorney's office indicated no dissatisfaction with the extent of the recovery. 27 The State finally argues that, assuming the Queens District Attorney did promise parole to Palermo on the Richmond County sentence, this promise was ultra vires and not binding on the State. Acknowledging the general proposition that prosecutors must keep promises, the State nevertheless contends that it can dissociate itself from a promise if the prosecutor lacked the authority to make the commitment in question. We disagree. 28 Santobello v. New York, supra, 404 U.S. at 262, 92 S.Ct. at 499, established that when a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled. Resting on principles of fairness in securing such an agreement and the adjudicative element inherent in accepting a plea, Santobello focused on an appropriate recognition of the duties of the prosecutor in relation to promises made in plea negotiations. Id. Neither the inadvertence of the breach nor its possibly harmless effect 13 obviated the need for remand to the state court for appropriate relief. 29 Clearly, then, Santobello requires relief when the prosecutor fails to fulfill promises within his power made in negotiating a plea bargain. United States v. Brown, 500 F.2d 375 (4th Cir. 1974); United States v. Ewing, 480 F.2d 1141 (5th Cir. 1973). We believe that the reasoning underlying Santobello applies no less when the prosecutor makes unfulfillable promises in negotiating a plea. Most importantly, the voluntariness of a plea induced by unfulfillable promises is, of course, open to grave doubt. In Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 755, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 25 L.Ed.2d 747 (1970), the Supreme Court declared that a guilty plea induced by misrepresentation, including unfulfilled or unfulfillable promises, could not stand. Additionally, fundamental fairness and public confidence in government officials require that prosecutors be held to meticulous standards of both promise and performance. Correale v. United States, 479 F.2d 944, 947 (1st Cir. 1973). Thus, the courts have afforded relief where prosecutors have made specific sentencing promises which were unfulfillable, since sentencing lies totally within the court's discretion, United States v. I. H. Hammerman II, 528 F.2d 326 (4th Cir. 1975); Harris v. Superintendent, Va. State Penitentiary, 518 F.2d 1173 (4th Cir. 1975); Correale v. United States, supra, or where one federal prosecutor promised immunity from federal prosecution outside his own jurisdiction, United States v. Carter, 454 F.2d 426 (4th Cir. 1972) (en banc), cert. denied, 417 U.S. 933, 94 S.Ct. 2646, 41 L.Ed.2d 237 (1974). 14 Geisser v. United States, 513 F.2d 862 (5th Cir. 1975) involved breach of a Department of Justice plea bargain which entailed, in part, a promise of parole after three years imprisonment. On appeal, the Department argued that the district court usurped the exclusive power of the Parole Board by ordering release. The Court of Appeals, although it remanded the case for a determination of what the Parole Board would do when informed of the bargain, 15 concluded that such a bargain fits well within the realm of enforceable constitutional rights . . . . 513 F.2d at 869 n.11. We agree and hold that where a defendant pleads guilty because he reasonably relies on promises by the prosecutors which are in fact unfulfillable, he has a right to have those promises fulfilled. 16 30 The district court determined that specific performance of the plea bargain would constitute the only meaningful relief in the context of this case. The court found that if the agreement had been fulfilled, Palermo would have been released from prison in August, 1970, and the five year parole supervision period would have expired in 1975. Since both of these time periods had passed, the court ordered Palermo's unconditional release. The State argues that the proper remedy would have been remand to the state court for vacatur of the Provident robbery plea. 31 In Santobello, the Supreme Court listed the possible remedies as either specific performance of the agreement or vacatur of the plea, the choice to be a discretionary one guided by the circumstances of each case. 404 U.S. at 263, 92 S.Ct. 495. Where appropriate, the courts have not hesitated to mandate specific performance of the agreement. Correale v. United States, supra; Harris v. Superintendent, Va. State Penitentiary, supra. We cannot conclude that the district court erred in determining that specific performance was the proper remedy in this case. Palermo had already been incarcerated for the entire promised prison sentence and parole term. Remand for withdrawal of the guilty plea would indeed have been meaningless, as the court below found. 32