Opinion ID: 1822128
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Was Defendant Unfairly Prejudiced by Termination?

Text: Only those state deprivations of liberty interests which result in a grievous loss to the individual implicate the due process clause. Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 481, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 2600, 33 L.Ed.2d 484, 494 (1972). We conclude from our de novo review of the record that defendant did not rely to his detriment on the pretrial diversion agreement and was not prejudiced by participating for several months in the treatment program offered by the prosecution. First, it is clear from the record that defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his rights to a speedy indictment and trial and his right not to incriminate himself. Those waivers were explicitly set forth in the written agreement which he executed after receiving advice of counsel, and defendant does not contend they are invalid. Defendant contends that the filing of the felony charge itself violated the diversion agreement and detrimentally infringed his due process rights. He cites Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262, 92 S.Ct. 495, 499, 30 L.Ed.2d 427, 433 (1971), but that case, unlike this one, involved a guilty plea induced by a plea bargain that the prosecution did not fulfill. Defendant here entered a plea of not guilty, not a guilty plea. Moreover, the written inculpatory statement which defendant provided the State as a condition for entering the program was not introduced in evidence at the trial nor in any way used against defendant. See Iowa R.Crim.P. 9(5) (plea agreement and guilty plea are inadmissible at trial when plea discussion does not result in accepted guilty plea). Defendant lodges no complaint concerning the fairness of the trial which resulted in his conviction. Granted defendant did not obtain the benefits of the plea bargaina reduced charge and hoped-for rehabilitation for which the treatment program was designed. Defendant lost those potential benefits solely because he failed to uphold his end of the plea bargain and complete the program satisfactorily, not because the prosecution infringed his constitutional rights as he has claimed. We reemphasize that this appeal presents primarily a question of fact which we have carefully considered and resolved adversely to defendant. Plea bargaining flows from the mutuality of advantage to the defendant and the prosecutor, each with reasons for wanting to avoid trial. Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U.S. 357, 363, 98 S.Ct. 663, 668, 54 L.Ed.2d 604, 611 (1978), quoting from Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 752, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 1471, 25 L.Ed.2d 747, 758-59 (1970). The performance of a plea-bargained agreement must also be mutual. When defendant failed to uphold his end of the plea bargain, the State had no obligation to provide him any anticipated benefits of that bargain. We do not decide whether procedural or substantive due process rights were implicated in that plea bargain, nor what may be the scope and breadth of those rights. Neither do we decide what would have been an appropriate sanction if the defendant had fulfilled his obligations but the State had not. The trial court correctly denied defendant's motion to dismiss. His conviction and sentence for sexual abuse in the second degree are affirmed. AFFIRMED.