Opinion ID: 1041833
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Guilty Pleas Under New York Law

Text: New York Criminal Procedure Law § 220.10 provides that a defendant may enter the following pleas to a criminal indictment: 20 1. The defendant may as a matter of right enter a plea of not guilty to the indictment. 2. Except as provided [elsewhere in the statute], the defendant may as a matter of right enter a plea of guilty to the entire indictment. 3. Except as provided [elsewhere in the statute], where the indictment charges but one crime, the defendant may, with both the permission of the court and the consent of the people, enter a plea of guilty of a lesser included offense. 4. Except as provided [elsewhere in the statute], where the indictment charges two or more offenses in separate counts, the defendant may, with both the permission of the court and the consent of the people, enter a plea of: (a) Guilty of one or more but not all of the offenses charged; or (b) Guilty of a lesser included offense with respect to any or all of the offenses charged; or (c) Guilty of any combination of offenses charged and lesser offenses included within other offenses charged. As the statute makes clear, certain types of pleas, those under section 220.10(3) and (4), require the consent of the prosecution and the permission of the court. By contrast, a plea under section 220.10(1) -- a plea of not guilty -- and section 220.10(2) -- a plea of guilty to the entire indictment -- may be entered as a matter of right. Cardoza asserts that none of his lawyers informed him that he 21 had the right to plead guilty to the entire indictment pursuant to section 220.10(2). A source of confusion in this case has been the use of the term plea offer (and similar terms, like plea deal or plea bargain), and its meaning as it is commonly understood by New York practitioners. A plea offer -- at least as that term is employed by the prosecution and the state judge in this case -- includes an agreement between the prosecution and the defendant, with the permission of the court, to plead to a lesser included charge, perhaps with assurances from the court as to the eventual sentence. See Resp'ts' Br. at 23; People v. Cardoza, Sup. Ct., NY County, Oct. 4, 2007, Wittner, J., Indictment No. 5504/97, at 8. By contrast, an agreement that the prosecution will recommend a specific sentence in exchange for the defendant's plea to the top count of the indictment is not -- at least according to the respondents and for our purposes here -- considered a true plea offer. Despite this, it seems that both the lawyers and the state court use or have used the term plea offer or offer to refer informally to any conditions attached to the prosecution's consent to a certain plea. While this may not present a problem in state court, where both the attorneys and the judges understand to what they are referring, it seems to have 22 generated substantial confusion in this case, where federal courts are called upon to review and interpret a New York State court record in which all of the parties have, at various times, referred to a sentencing recommendation as a plea offer or offer.