Court Opinion

ID: 9457835
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 20:34:14.587817+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:35:31.451826
License: Public Domain

FEINBERG, Circuit Judge
(concurring) :
I concur in the result.
Judge Weinstein refused to find that there was a promise here by the state trial judge. Therefore, the line of cases based on failure of a representative of the Government to keep a promise, see, e. g., Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971), does not control. The district judge also refused to find that defendant’s lawyer, apparently retained, had made a promise as to what the sentence would be, cf. United States ex rel. Callahan v. Follette, 418 F.2d 903 (2d Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 840, 91 S. Ct. 80, 27 L.Ed.2d 74 (1970), or that the lawyer had stated that there was such a promise by the state judge. The most we can say from this record is that defendant’s lawyer had a “feeling” as to what the sentence would be, which he passed on to defendant. But our cases hold that an “erroneous sentence estimate by defense counsel does not render a plea involuntary.” United States ex rel. Bullock v. Warden, Westfield State Farm, 408 F.2d 1326, 1330 (2d Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1043, 90 S. Ct. 688, 24 L.Ed.2d 686 (1970); see United States ex rel. Scott v. Maneusi, 429 F.2d 104, 108 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 402 U.S. 909, 91 S.Ct. 1385, 28 L.Ed.2d 651 (1971). Under those decisions, defendant’s reliance on his lawyer’s “estimate” — which would almost always be reasonable — is apparently insufficient to justify setting aside a guilty plea. Whether the result would be different if defendant’s counsel— court appointed or retained — had mistakenly quoted the judge as promising a sentence of no more than five years is not before us. See United States ex rel. Callahan, supra, 418 F.2d at 904. It may be that such problems will be mini*304xnized, at least as to prisoners sentenced by federal judges, by adoption of the excellent suggestions for frank disclosure of plea agreements made by the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules. See Rule 11, Prelim. Draft of Proposed Amend, to Fed.R.Crim.P. (April 1971).