Court Opinion

ID: 9704841
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:48:05.107641+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:05.779702
License: Public Domain

WATHEN, Justice,
concurring separately-
I concur in the result reached by the Court but I would not construe the words “plea negotiations” or “plea discussions” as including discussions between a defendant and a police officer. Only a prosecuting attorney has the authority to enter into a plea agreement. Discussions with a police officer may be subject to suppression on other grounds, but protected discussions concerning a plea agreement can take place only with a prosecuting attorney. By rule we have authorized plea agreements in the following terms: “The attorney for the state and the attorney for the defendant or the defendant when acting pro se may engage in discussions with a view toward reaching an agreement_” M.R.Crim.P. 11(e)(1). I have no trouble in concluding that the declarations of inadmissibility set forth in M.R.Crim.P. 11(e)(5) and M.R.Evid. 410 refer only to discussions with an attorney for the state. I see no reason to repeat the error committed by the federal courts in adopting a liberal construction of the existing rule and thereby create the necessity for an amendment to the rule. The Robertson approach, now adopted by this Court, prompted an amendment of the federal rules to explicitly provide that only discussions with a government attorney are inadmissible. See, Fed.R.Evid. 410(4) and Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(e)(1). In my opinion, such a circuitous route to the appropriate result is totally unnecessary.