Court Opinion

ID: 9487364
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:14:42.042947+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:13.669855
License: Public Domain

MANSMANN, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
While I concur in the result, I do so with some hesitation and concern. I find it inequitable that a petitioner’s challenge to the voluntary nature of his guilty plea may rest on allegations that the plea was induced by a scheme to bribe a judge. Further, I am troubled by the prejudice to the victim and the prosecution that will inevitably result from the delayed resolution of this case.
However, I am constrained by the language that the United States Supreme Court has adopted in setting forth the standard against which the consensual character of a plea must be measured. Most recently, in Mabry v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 504, 104 S.Ct. 2543, 81 L.Ed.2d 437 (1984), the Court stated:
“A plea of guilty entered by one fully aware of the direct consequences, including the actual value of any commitments made to him by the court, prosecutor, or his own counsel, must stand unless induced by threats (or promises to discontinue improper harassment), misrepresentation (including unfulfilled or unfulfillable promises), or perhaps by promises that are by their nature improper as having no proper relationship to the prosecutor’s business (e.g. bribes).”
Id. at 509, 104 S.Ct. at 2547, quoting, Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 755, 90 S.Ct. 1463, 1472, 25 L.Ed.2d 747 (1970) (emphasis added), quoting, Shelton v. United States, 242 F.2d 101, 115 (5th Cir.1957) (Tuttle, J., dissenting), reheard en banc, 246 F.2d 571, rev’d on other grounds, 356 U.S. 26, 78 S.Ct. 563, 2 L.Ed.2d 579 (1958).
Thus, it appears that the Supreme Court has decided it appropriate to grant broad protection to defendants who enter guilty pleas, even those who allege knowing and voluntary participation in egregious and illegal conduct. Since we are not writing on a clean slate, I concur with the majority that Zilich is entitled to an evidentiary hearing to test the voluntariness of his plea.