Court Opinion

ID: 9506141
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:45:40.941036+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:43.570441
License: Public Domain

HELENE N. WHITE, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Under United States v. Toth, 668 F.3d 374, 377 (6th Cir.2012), which I agree controls, a waiver of appeal rights may be challenged on the ground that it was not knowing and voluntary. Smith raised such an argument below, specifically, that his guilty plea was not knowingly entered because he was misinformed as to the mandatory-minimum sentence, which under the Fair Sentencing Act was five, not ten, years.
Although it may well be that the Government would not have offered Smith better than a 10-year sentence, Smith agreed to plead guilty having been advised by the court, the prosecution and defense counsel that the mandatory-minimum sentence was ten years. R. 896 at 19-20/Plea Hrg. I agree with Smith that he should have been allowed to weigh the consequences of the new mandatory minimum sentence of five years before he agreed to take a binding 10-year sentence.