Court Opinion

ID: 9488504
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:47:32.059364+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:55.824658
License: Public Domain

NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I readily concur in the opinion written for the court by Judge Hamilton. I write sepa*384rately only to observe that this was not a contested case in which the parties expected to proceed to trial. By the plea agreement that had been finalized and executed, Tootle agreed to plead guilty, and the only order of business for resolving criminal liability was a court hearing to approve the agreement. A hearing to approve a plea agreement is not a trial and is therefore not addressed by the Speedy Trial Act, as noted by Judge Hamilton. If we were to allow Tootle to appear in the November hearing and obtain dismissal of his case under the Speedy Trial Act, we would be giving him a right that the Act does not give him, and we would be allowing him to breach his plea agreement without any stated reason for doing so. The court’s opinion properly rejects such gamesmanship.