Opinion ID: 2977411
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Haygood’s argument for withdrawal of his plea

Text: Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure describes the appropriate course of action when a defendant enters a guilty plea. According to Rule 11(d)(2)(B), a voluntarily entered guilty plea that has been accepted by the district court may be withdrawn before a sentence is imposed if “the defendant can show a fair and just reason for requesting the withdrawal.” See generally United States v. Hyde, 520 U.S. 670 (1997) (analyzing Rule 32(e), which was transferred without change to Rule 11(d)(2)(B) as part of the 2002 Amendments to the Rules). No. 07-1771 United States v. Haygood Page 3 In the Sixth Circuit, as in other circuits, a multi-factor balancing test has been developed to guide district courts in deciding whether to grant a motion to withdraw a guilty plea. The factors in this circuit are the following: (1) the amount of time that elapsed between the plea and the motion to withdraw it; (2) the presence (or absence) of a valid reason for the failure to move for withdrawal earlier in the proceedings; (3) whether the defendant has asserted or maintained his innocence; (4) the circumstances underlying the entry of the guilty plea; (5) the defendant’s nature and background; (6) the degree to which the defendant has had prior experience with the criminal justice system; and (7) potential prejudice to the government if the motion to withdraw is granted. United States v. Bashara, 27 F.3d 1174, 1181 (6th Cir. 1994), superceded on other grounds as recognized in United States v. Caseslorente, 220 F.3d 727, 734 (6th Cir. 2000). No one factor controls; the list is general and nonexclusive. United States v. Bazzi, 94 F.3d 1025, 1027 (6th Cir. 1996). The relevance of each factor will vary according to the “circumstances surrounding the original entrance of the plea as well as the motion to withdraw.” United States v. Triplett, 828 F.2d 1195, 1197 (6th Cir. 1987). Plea withdrawals should generally not be allowed where a defendant has made “a tactical decision to enter a plea, wait[ed] several weeks, and then . . . believes he made a bad choice in pleading guilty.” United States v. Alexander, 948 F.2d 1002, 1004 (6th Cir. 1991) (quoting United States v. Carr, 740 F.2d 339, 345 (5th Cir. 1984)). Rather, Rule 11(d)(2)(B) is designed “to allow a hastily entered plea made with unsure heart and confused mind to be undone . . . .” Alexander, 948 F.2d at 1004. We first note that the factor of time weighs heavily against Haygood in this case. Haygood pled guilty on January 18, 2007. He attempted to withdraw his plea four and a half months later, on June 5, 2007. This court has affirmed the denial of motions to withdraw that came much sooner than Haygood’s motion, citing lengthy delay as an important factor. See, e.g., United States v. Cinnamon, 112 F. App’x 415, 418-19 (6th Cir. 2004) (declining to allow a withdrawal motion that came at least 90 days after the guilty plea); United States v. Baez, 87 F.3d 805, 808 (6th Cir. 1996) (67 days later); United States v. Goldberg, 862 F.2d 101, 104 (6th Cir. 1988) (55 days later). In addition to the passage of time weighing heavily against Haygood, his appeal on this issue is doomed because he suggests only one reason why he should have been allowed to withdraw his plea: he has concluded that the search warrant that led to his arrest might have been invalid. But the appropriate way to challenge the validity of the warrant would have been to move for exclusion of the evidence that was gathered in its execution. See Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 656 (1961) (establishing the rule that evidence obtained as the result of a Fourth Amendment violation should generally be excluded at trial); United States v. Leake, 998 F.2d 1359, 1365-66 (6th Cir. 1993) (affirming the exclusion at trial of evidence obtained in the execution of a search warrant that was later invalidated). Such a motion, moreover, must be made before trial. Fed. R. Crim P. 12(b)(3)(C). In this case, Haygood’s guilty plea came after the close of the prosecution’s proof at trial. His motion to withdraw was brought several months later. Because the time for making a motion to exclude evidence had long passed, we conclude that Haygood has not presented a “fair and just reason” for his plea to be withdrawn. See United States v. Sanders, 125 F. App’x 685, 687 (6th Cir. 2005) (affirming the denial of a motion to withdraw a guilty plea entered 75 days earlier, but still before trial, where the defendant’s only basis to withdraw his plea was that certain evidence should be suppressed). Haygood argues, however, that the district court might not have understood his argument for the withdrawal of his guilty plea. Indeed, the district court responded to Haygood’s request by No. 07-1771 United States v. Haygood Page 4 noting that “if . . . the warrant was invalid for some reason . . . there would be nothing that would prevent [the prosecutor] to go back and reissue the warrant.” This suggests that the judge might have believed that Haygood was complaining about an arrest warrant and not the search warrant. Although the district court ideally should have engaged in further discussion to ensure a thorough response to Haygood’s request for a plea withdrawal, any misinterpretation on the part of the court was harmless. Even if Haygood had outlined his argument more completely, no reasonable judge could have found that a long-defaulted challenge to a search warrant provided a “fair and just reason” to withdraw his guilty plea. The district court therefore did not abuse its discretion in denying Haygood’s motion.