Court Opinion

ID: 9496178
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:19:35.130209+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:57:24.297482
License: Public Domain

BYE, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I applaud Judge Morris Sheppard Arnold’s doctrinal consistency. As a practical matter, however, I doubt criminal defendants have the prescience and bargaining power necessary to participate as full and equal players in the contractual process Judge Arnold envisions. Applying pure contract theory in the plea bargain context insufficiently accounts for the imbalance of power between prosecutors and defendants. Nor does contract theory acceptably govern the disparate consequences to the parties should they misjudge the risks. I am particularly troubled by the risk of an egregious and unbounded sentencing decision that could not be foreseen even by diligent counsel. Prior cases have therefore refused to endorse a purely contractual analysis of plea bargains. Margalli-Olvera v. INS, 43 F.3d 345, 351 (8th Cir.1994); United States v. Britt, 917 F.2d 353, 359 (8th Cir.1990). In sum, I believe plea agreements are sufficiently different from other contracts to demand greater flexibility in their enforcement. For these reasons, I concur in the opinion of the court.