Court Opinion

ID: 9688428
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 17:46:58.510226+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:38.571173
License: Public Domain

Hood, P.J.
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. I *243would reverse and remand for a new trial on defendant’s second issue, in which defendant claims his counsel did not inform him of a plea offer made by the prosecutor.
The court ordered an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the prosecutor had made an offer to plea which was not communicated to defendant. At this hearing, defendant testified that, some time after trial, defense counsel told him about a plea offer of second-degree murder with a sentence of fifteen years’ imprisonment, which had been made before trial. Defendant testified that defense counsel did not inform him of this offer until after trial. Defendant testified that he had told defense counsel early in his prosecution that he would be willing to plead with a five-, ten-, or fifteen-year sentence.
Defense counsel testified that, on the second day of trial, during a break while the judge was out of the courtroom, the prosecutor mentioned to him that defendant could plead guilty to second-degree murder, for fifteen years’ imprisonment. When he got back to the defense table, however, the judge entered the courtroom, they were told to rise, and trial proceeded. At first, he did not know whether or not he told defendant about the offer but, later, defendant told him that he had not told defendant. And, he remembered that, at sentencing, he told defendant that “maybe [the] 2nd degree offer that they made during the trial with the 15-year minimum sentence wasn’t such a bad idea.” Defendant seemed surprised, further indicating to him that he had not previously told defendant.
Suzanne Schuelke, defendant’s appellate attorney, testified that, shortly after she took over the file from defense counsel, she called defense counsel and he told her that there had been a plea bargain offer made that he had not communicated *244to defendant and that he felt guilty about it and thought she should know about it for appeal purposes. He told her that he "just plain forgot.”
The prosecutor testified that, on the first day of trial, defense counsel approached him and asked him if anything could be done as far as getting a plea. He said he had no authority to allow a plea and he would have to talk to his superior at the prosecutor’s office. He told defense counsel that the best defense counsel could expect was a sentence of fifteen years. He told defense counsel to ask defendant if he was "willing to take a plea within those large numbers.” He testified that defense counsel left the courtroom to talk to defendant and returned ten or fifteen minutes later and said "the numbers were too high.” The prosecutor testified that, therefore, "[he] never talked to [his superior] and we never offered a plea.”
Defendant testified in rebuttal that defense counsel did not come up to the lockup and tell him about the plea.
The court held that there was no actual offer of a plea. The court felt that it was "just talk, subject to approval of some higherup in the prosecuting attorneys’s [sic] office.” Thus, the court denied the motion.
I feel that the court erred in finding no offer of a plea. As the court properly noted, an attorney has, as a matter of law, a duty to disclose and discuss with his or her client good faith offers to settle. Joos v Auto-Owners Ins Co, 94 Mich App 419, 424; 288 NW2d 443 (1979), lv den 408 Mich 946 (1980). When the prosecutor told defense counsel to ask defendant whether he would be willing to plead guilty in exchange for a fifteen-year sentence, an offer was made about which defendant was entitled to know. Although there are no cases on point *245in Michigan, other jurisdictions have held that a defendant is entitled to a new trial where defense counsel failed to communicate a plea bargain to him. See Lyles v State, 178 Ind App 398; 382 NE2d 991 (1978); State v Simmons, 65 NC App 294; 309 SE2d 493 (1983); Hanzelka v State, 682 SW2d 385 (Tex App, 1984). I feel that this rule is a sound one and should be adopted in Michigan. This rule is consistent with the principle that it is the defendant’s right to choose whether or not to plead guilty. See Boykin v Alabama, 395 US 238, 242-244; 89 S Ct 1709; 23 L Ed 274 (1969); Brookhart v Janis, 384 US 1, 7; 86 S Ct 1245; 16 L Ed 2d 314 (1966). Defendant was entitled to hear the plea offer and decide whether he would accept it. Defendant was prejudiced by defense counsel’s failure to communicate the plea offer to him.
I do not feel that the fact that the plea had to be approved by the prosecutor’s superior should warrant a different result. Because it cannot be determined at this point whether the superior would have approved the plea, defendant is entitled to a new trial.