Court Opinion

ID: 9479481
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:19:52.279874+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:04.146658
License: Public Domain

PREGERSON, Judge,
dissenting:
Scott was indicted on one felony count of blackmail in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 876. His motion to dismiss the indictment was denied by the district court. The government then filed an information charging Scott with blackmail in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 873, a misdemeanor. Scott then entered a conditional guilty plea pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2) and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charged in the information. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the government dismissed the indictment, and Scott was given the right to appeal from the district court’s order denying his motion to dismiss the indictment. Scott now wishes to challenge the district court’s denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment.
However, Scott cannot appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment because, after the dismissal of the indictment, the issue of its sufficiency is moot. See Aguirre v. S.S. Sohio Intrepid, 801 F.2d 1185, 1189 (9th Cir.1986). Scott, who was in pro per when he entered a conditional guilty plea, evidently believed that he could appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment following his guilty plea to the information. The government and the district court did not advise him otherwise. Yet it is clear that, once Scott was convicted by this guilty plea to the *1167information, the question of the sufficiency of the previous indictment no longer existed as a present, live controversy. See Aguirre, 801 F.2d at 1189. Because the issue of the indictment’s sufficiency is moot, it cannot be the subject of an appeal. Therefore, Scott was denied one of the benefits promised him in return for his conditional guilty plea.
The majority states that Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2) allows us to take jurisdiction of Scott’s appeal. Rule 11(a)(2), as the majority’s opinion points out, does provide that “[a] defendant who prevails on appeal shall be allowed to withdraw the plea.” However, this statement in the Rule presupposes the propriety of the appeal. Where the issue sought to be raised is moot, the appeal is not proper and there will therefore be no occasion for allowing the defendant to withdraw his plea. I am in full agreement with that portion of the majority’s opinion which states that “when an indictment is dismissed and replaced with an information charging offenses different than those contained in the indictment, any challenge to the legal sufficiency of the indictment becomes moot.” Opinion at 1164. As the majority points out, “[t]he issue is moot because the validity of the indictment no longer poses a ‘present, live controversy of the kind that must exist if we are to avoid advisory opinions on abstract propositions of law.’ ” Id. at 1164. Given this analysis, I can only conclude that the present appeal is moot. Therefore, the language in Rule 11(a)(2) providing that a defendant who “prevails on appeal” shall be allowed to withdraw his plea simply does not come into play, because when the appeal is moot, there is no appeal.
Mootness is an element of justiciability and raises the question of jurisdiction. North Carolina v. Rice, 404 U.S. 244, 246, 92 S.Ct. 402, 404, 30 L.Ed.2d 413 (1971) (per curiam) (resolution of question of mootness is “essential if federal courts are to function within their constitutional sphere of authority”). We have no power to decide moot questions. Id. (courts may not issue advisory opinions); see also Aguirre, 801 F.2d at 1189. I cannot join, therefore, in the majority’s decision because I believe that we lack jurisdiction to decide the merits of this case.
It would be unfair, however, to dismiss this case as moot without allowing Scott to withdraw his guilty plea. Scott entered into a plea agreement which promised him something in return for his guilty plea, but in fact gave him nothing. Because Scott’s guilty plea was conditioned on the appeala-bility of his challenge to the indictment, the district court and government erred by permitting Scott to reserve the right to appeal a moot issue. Cf. United States v. Curcio, 712 F.2d 1532 (2d Cir.1983) (defendants permitted to withdraw conditional guilty plea where district court improperly allowed them to reserve for appeal issues that required trial record).
I do not believe that the mootness of Scott’s appeal removes from this court its responsibility to supervise the administration of criminal justice. We retain the power to order the relief — the opportunity for Scott to withdraw his guilty plea — required to undo the effects of the district court’s erroneous acceptance of a plea arrangement which gave Scott an illusory benefit in return for his plea. In so doing, we would not be deciding the merits of the appeal, nor would we be granting Scott the relief he seeks. Rather, we would be implementing an appropriate remedy for a violation of Scott’s rights. See United States v. Gonsalves, 781 F.2d 1319, 1320-21 (9th Cir.1985); United States v. Ramirez, 710 F.2d 535, 541 (9th Cir.1983). Therefore, I would remand the case to give Scott the opportunity to withdraw his guilty plea.