Court Opinion

ID: 9498032
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:06:19.23173+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:34.334027
License: Public Domain

GIBBONS, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in all of Judge Moore’s opinion except for footnote 6. Footnote 6 appears to impose a duty on federal prosecutors to reiterate a recommendation in a plea agreement at every possible step in the proceeding, even when the recommendation is inconsistent with the true facts. Ideally, a recommendation that the district court not apply a particular enhancement should be based on an expectation that the court will find that facts supporting the enhancement do not exist. Sometimes, however, the government’s information is imperfect, and either the presentence report or evidence at the sentencing hearing reveals an inconsistency between the true facts and the factual findings necessary to support a decision that an enhancement does not apply. Here, while we do not know what information the parties had when they entered into the plea agreement, we know that both the presentence report and evidence at the sentencing hearing support application of the firearm enhancement to Mrs. Davidson. In this type of situation, a prosecutor’s vigorous advocacy of factual findings that do not comport with reality is itself problematic. Moreover, a prosecutor can adhere to a recommendation of a plea agreement without repeating its terms at every opportunity. The district court was of course fully aware of the terms of the plea agreement and was required to make its findings based on the record. All the parties knew this, and the prosecutor had to make a judgment call about an appropriate course of conduct, given the circumstances. I cannot say that the prosecutor here chose wrongly.