Court Opinion

ID: 9483992
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 09:37:22.664908+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:55.918569
License: Public Domain

BUCKLEY, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I write, first, to underscore something that ought to be self-evident, but which experience suggests may not be. The standards we apply in our review of a district court’s exercise of its discretion under Rule 32(d) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure are necessarily different from those that govern the district court’s exercise of that discretion. Among the reasons for this is that it is not our task to determine whether a defendant’s motion to withdraw a guilty plea should have been denied; it is to determine whether the district court abused its discretion in denying it. Furthermore, while the district court will usually make its decision before sentencing, an appellate court will hear the case only after the criminal proceedings have run their course.
Thus, while we will be reluctant to overturn the denial of a withdrawal motion where the defendant has failed to assert his innocence, the district court need not give dispositive weight to such a failure. See, e.g., United States v. Joslin, 434 F.2d 526, 531 n. 9 (D.C.Cir.1970) (“Appellant’s failure to avow innocence ... can, of course, be taken into account ... but is not conclusive in itself”); Bishop v. United States, 349 F.2d 220, 221 (D.C.Cir.1965) (“avowal of innocence” as “a predicate” to withdrawal “is not the rule when a plea is withdrawn prior to sentencing”). And while we will consider the prejudice to the public’s interest in finality and the orderly administration of justice, the district court’s concern is with the prejudice to the Government’s ability to prosecute the case and any undue inconvenience to the court that may , result from a tardy withdrawal *840motion. See United States v. Barker, 514 F.2d 208, 222 (D.C.Cir.1975) (en banc) (defendant’s reasons for requesting withdrawal “must meet exceptionally high standards where the delay between the plea and the withdrawal motion has substantially prejudiced the Government’s ability to prosecute the case”) (emphasis added); see also Pelletier v. United States, 350 F.2d 727, 728 (D.C.Cir.1965) (denying a request for plea withdrawal made in the middle of trial).
In sum, in this circuit, the standard governing a district court’s exercise of its discretion under Rule 32(d) remains “a lenient one,” and the district court’s “broad discretion to decide whether or not withdrawal is appropriate” remains undisturbed. See United States v. Abreu, 964 F.2d 16, 18 (D.C.Cir.1992) (citing United States v. Loughery, 908 F.2d 1014, 1017 (D.C.Cir.1990)).
My second purpose in writing is to call attention to what I see as a fundamental tension in present-day pleading procedure. I have no doubt that our opinion decides this case properly under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, the United States Sentencing Guidelines, and our circuit precedent; and given the overwhelming weight of the evidence against Andre Horne, there can be no doubt that justice has been done here. Yet I am left with a sense of unease that I suspect was shared by the district judge when he denied Horne's motion to withdraw his plea. See Transcript of July 6, 1990, withdrawal hearing at 20 (disparity between predicted and actual sentencing range “so great, it gives me great pause.”) Horne’s decision to forego the exercise of a constitutional right was not as informed as it could have been, hence not as voluntary as it might have been. To those at work adapting the Rules and Guidelines to minimize such shortfalls, I offer some observations.
As a consequence of the binding nature of the Sentencing Guidelines, plea agreements today will be negotiated with an eye on the penalties to be found in the Guidelines rather than in the United States Code. With the significance of the Guidelines fixed in his mind as the “real world,” a defendant is apt to view a trial judge’s mandatory reference to the statutory maximum sentence for what it has become — a formality; and it should surprise no one that a defendant might dismiss it as such. In such a case, the Rule 11 proceeding will have failed to achieve a significant purpose.
In this case, as required by the Rule, the district court advised Horne that he faced a statutory maximum sentence of fifty years in jail, almost twice the maximum permitted by the Guidelines as ultimately computed. Transcript of Feb. 20, 1990, plea hearing at 21. The court also advised him, in accordance with the Rule, that “there are guidelines and they may apply to your case”; and that “after we find out what the guidelines are in your case the Judge has the authority to impose a sentence that could be more severe or less severe than the sentence called for by the guidelines.” Id. at 14-15. While faithful to the Rule, these cautions suggest that the Guidelines are advisory only. Yet we must assume that a defendant will know that his sentence will be determined by them. As Justice Scalia noted in Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361, 109 S.Ct. 647, 102 L.Ed.2d 714 (1989), “[wjhile the products of the Sentencing Commission’s labors have been given the modest name ‘Guidelines,’ they have the force and effect of laws prescribing the sentences criminal defendants are to receive.” Id. at 413, 109 S.Ct. at 675-76 (Scalia, J., dissenting) (citations omitted).
The difficulties created by this tension between Rule 11 and the realities of sentencing are compounded by another, more fundamental tension, one implied by the very phrase, “plea bargaining.” As noted in our opinion, a guilty plea is a "solemn act” — an admission of guilt and acceptance of moral responsibility. A bargain, by contrast, is a pragmatic exchange based on an understanding of mutual advantage. A defendant’s understanding of the maximum penalties he will face if he enters a guilty plea may be of critical importance to the bargaining aspect of a plea agreement— that is, to the defendant’s decision to accept the Government’s offer rather than assume the risks of a trial. In light of the *841new realities, the defendant and his counsel will look not to the statute books, but to the Guidelines in order to determine what that maximum might be.
The weighing of an assured penalty against the risks inherent in going to trial on a more serious charge may have little relevance to the moral aspects of a plea. Yet if, after his plea is accepted, a defendant should find that the maximum penalty facing him is significantly larger than the one he would have willingly accepted as an alternative to going to trial, he may well be trapped by the formal implications of a guilty plea and the failure of the Rule 11 proceeding to provide him with a reliable understanding of its consequences. Rule 11, then, can contribute to the problems posed by sentencing surprises in two ways: by failing to inform defendants before they plead as to the penalties they realistically face; and by making it more difficult to withdraw a plea once it has been accepted.
If, as I believe, the new Guidelines regime has created a gap between what Rule 11 aspires to and what it now achieves, that gap will have to be bridged by the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules and the Sentencing Commission, which has authority to set standards for the acceptance of plea bargains. See 28 U.S.C. § 994(a)(2)(E) (1988). These bodies are engaged in monitoring and revising our procedures to ensure their fairness. I hope they will find these observations of interest.