Court Opinion

ID: 9582030
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:21:41.692714+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:24.303194
License: Public Domain

SNYDER, J.
¶ 15. (concurring). The dissent begins by acknowledging that a prosecutor has a duty to honor a plea agreement. It then notes that when a prosecutor has a duty to convey relevant information to the sentencing court, such a duty must be balanced against the duty to honor a plea agreement. The dissent concedes that this is a "close case" and that the prosecutor must walk a "fine line" in balancing the two duties, see State v. Hanson, 232 Wis. 2d 291, 302, 606 N.W.2d 278 (Ct. App. 1999), review denied, 234 Wis. 2d 177, 612 N.W.2d 733 (Wis. Apr. 26, 2000) (No. 99-0120-CR), and then worries that the majority opinion will frustrate a prosecutor's duty to convey relevant information to the sentencing court about the crime, the victim or other factors bearing on the sentence simply because the information is unfavorable to the defendant. The dissent's worry is misplaced.
¶ 16. This case is not about unfavorable information being withheld from the sentencing court. This case is about the sentencing court sustaining John D. Williams's objection to the prosecutor's breach of duty *14to honor the plea agreement, and the later excusal of that breach because the postconviction court determined that the prosecutor did not intend to breach the agreement. The record is silent as to the need for or any concern about a "relevant sentencing information balancing" test.
¶ 17. Much is made here of whether Hanson, State v. Ferguson, 166 Wis. 2d 317, 479 N.W.2d 241 (Ct. App. 1991), or State v. Poole, 131 Wis. 2d 359, 389 N.W.2d 40 (Ct. App. 1986), are informative or provide guidance in this case. I conclude that none of those cases are so factually or procedurally similar to this case that they can provide assistance in resolving the appellate issue raised by the record events herein established. In general, it is fair to say that Wisconsin law concerning what constitutes a plea agreement breach entitling a defendant to relief is in disarray.
¶ 18. The relevant record events are undisputed. On March 16, 1999, the plea agreement calling for a probation/jail time recommendation was placed upon the record by the State, and Williams entered a plea of guilty. The trial court then ordered a presentence investigation report (PSI) on its own motion.1 Corrections Agent Sue Zernzack prepared and filed her PSI on May 27, 1999, opining that county jail confinement would not have a satisfactory impact on Williams and that only a prison setting would provide the necessary structure, and recommending a medium term of incarceration. The prosecutor, Sandy A. Williams, apparently troubled by the PSI contents and its prison *15recommendation, told the sentencing court that her office had then met with a victim witness, Roberta Valerius, who attended the sentencing hearing and addressed the court. The prosecutor stated that her office met with Zernzack on June 8, 1999, and that Zernzack provided opinions and comments extraneous to, but in support of, the PSI and "reiterated ... that it was [Zernzack's] belief that [Williams] needs to go to prison." The sentencing hearing occurred on June 30, 1999.
¶ 19. During the sentencing proceeding, the prosecutor solicited an affirmation from Valerius that Valerius was a good mother and that Williams was a bad father.2 In addition, the prosecutor related information allegedly obtained from the PSI author3 that emphasized and further supported the PSI prison recommendation. Williams's defense counsel objected to the prosecutor's comments as breaching the plea agreement and the following exchange occurred:
[DEFENSE ATTORNEY]: Judge, I am just going to object here. The state seems to be undercutting *16its recommendation to the Court by relaying things that are not the state's position, they are an agent's position. [Agent Zernzach's] comments are in the P.S.I. And I have at a certain point... to object. But it seems to me that the state is in essence ... undermining the recommendation that was put out and which Mr. Williams entered a plea. So I guess I am just calling — raising an objection here and seeing where we are going with this. Because it seems to me that obviously the state can make its argument, but I think if it gets to the point where the state is basically saying we want to change our recommendation, or we think the Court should without saying so, I think that's certainly something that is a problem.
THE COURT: I agree.
¶ 20. At that point the prosecutor related that "if I indicated anything other than what our recommendation is" that the court could look at the PSI itself, that she was just relaying information that Zernzach had provided the prosecution after the PSI was filed, and that she was merely relating "information that has come to light since the presentence was filed." The trial court, apparently unimpressed with the State's suggestion that it was only exercising its duty to provide relevant sentencing information, did not address the prosecutor's response and did not perform a relevant sentencing information balancing exercise or otherwise respond to the prosecutor's remarks. The defense's breach objection remained sustained in the sentencing hearing record.
¶ 21. The court did, however, revisit its plea agreement breach ruling at the postconviction hearing, where it concluded that "taken in that context when [the prosecutor] goes on to explain it, it's clear that [the *17prosecutor] wasn't advocating a change in the recommendation. That was not her intent." (Emphasis added.) The postconviction court did not address, or apparently see any compelling need to address, the relevant sentencing information balancing test. The postconviction court denied sentence relief to Williams on the basis that the plea agreement breach was not a breach because the prosecution did not intend to breach. That holding lacks support in the law and is erroneous.
¶ 22. Williams has a constitutional right to the enforcement of a negotiated plea agreement, see State v. Smith, 207 Wis. 2d 258, 271, 558 N.W.2d 379 (1997), and "[t]he state may not accomplish 'through indirect means what it promised not to do directly,' i.e., convey a message to the trial court that a defendant's actions warrant a more severe sentence than that recommended." Ferguson, 166 Wis. 2d at 322. The Poole, Hanson and Ferguson decisions do not address judicial excusal of a previously acknowledged prosecution plea agreement breach, unintended or otherwise. The State does not cite to any case that supports the proposition that a breach may be cured by a lack of intent on the part of the violating party. I am satisfied that no such case law exists. If prosecutors desire to avoid the dissent's proverbial "potted plant" model, they can do so by not negotiating pleas and entering into plea agreements that they then must honor.
¶ 23. The confusion attending plea agreement violations in Wisconsin is evident in the postconviction testimony of Williams's trial counsel. In response to a question about his decision to object to the prosecutor's comments as violating the plea agreement, Williams's attorney, Wilfred P. de Junco, a seasoned and capable defense counsel, responded that he was not sure at the *18time of the objection if there had been a breach of the plea agreement, but that he "thought it was safer to raise an objection and to try to clarify the issue." The trial court, however, was sure of the breach and responded accordingly. The trial court never changed its ruling that a breach occurred at sentencing, but concluded postconviction that the breach was excused because it was not intended by the prosecutor. The record is silent as to the propriety of or need for the sentencing information balancing test urged by the dissent. The ongoing confusion concerning the breach of Wisconsin plea agreements is further highlighted by this district's issuance of an unusual, three-legged opinion.
¶ 24. While I have some sympathy with the dissent's concern about the continued integrity of the plea bargaining process, I disagree that the facts in this case can result in an unwarranted sentencing "clam up" restriction. The prosecutor not only has a right but a duty to provide information to the sentencing court. Moreover, there is nothing wrong with the prosecutor providing his or her opinion of the defendant's character, even if negative, to the sentencing court so long as the opinion is used to support the recommendation. See Ferguson, 166 Wis. 2d at 324-25 (recognizing prosecutor's task to attempt to convince the court of the appropriateness of the recommendation). But it makes no sense to allow the prosecutor to render an opinion that appears to argue against his or her own negotiated recommendation. Here, in the majority view, the prosecutor did just that. The prosecutor's remarks cannot be interpreted to support a recommendation for probation with sixty days in jail.
¶ 25. The majority opinion correctly concludes that a case involving a prosecution plea agreement vio*19lation should favor the defendant. That result is not unreasonable given the benefit derived by the State in obtaining a defendant's waiver of constitutional rights, a conviction without trial, its knowledge and understanding of the agreement it negotiated, and its duty to honor that agreement. Given the constitutional protections that a defendant surrenders to obtain such an agreement, and the lack of legal certainty in Wisconsin as to when the duty to honor a plea agreement is violated, each case must be addressed on its own merits and a defendant should be entitled to the benefit of his or her bargain.
¶ 26. I respectfully concur that Williams is entitled to a resentencing with the full benefit of the plea agreement that he bargained for and from which he expected to benefit.

 The prosecutor told the sentencing court that she believed that the State recommended a PSI at the plea hearing. However, when the plea court raised the question of ordering a PSI, the prosecutor replied, "It's up to the Court. We hadn't discussed it, Judge." A PSI was not a part of the plea agreement.

 The solicitation is apparent from the following record:
[THE PROSECUTOR]: Judge, when [Ms. Valerius] speaks to you you are going to learn about a mother who has done everything she can for her daughter, has taken on the obligation, the responsibilities of raising a child, and has had to do it on her own because the father of that child has done everything to completely do the opposite. He has taken on no real meaning in terms of creating a relationship. And you will learn of some of that later on. It's quite frankly disheartening and saddening to know that someone could have a daughter now who is 18, correct?
MS. VALERIUS: M-hm.

 The prosecutor told the sentencing court that Zernzach indicated on June 8 that she would attend the sentencing, but her appearance is not noted in the record.