Court Opinion

ID: 9491089
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 14:03:26.704114+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:30.130521
License: Public Domain

MANSMANN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
In this appeal we are asked to determine the extent to which a district court may review the government's decision to refrain from filing a 5K1.1 motion where the government has entered into a plea agreement which preserves its discretion to determine whether such a motion is appropriate. While I agree with the *511majority that Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257 (1971), provides the analytical framework we must initially apply in evaluating the terms of a plea agreement, I disagree with the majority's conclusion that where a plea agreement grants a prosecutor sole discretion to determine whether a defendant's assistance was substantial, the court must nevertheless evaluate the prosecutor's exercise of that discretion to determine if the prosecutor made his decision in good faith. In addition, I do not subscribe to the majority's adoption of the Second Circuit's approach for determining when a hearing in necessary to assess the government's good faith. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.
1.
In our criminal justice system, we have historically entrusted the government with broad discretion to make prosecutorial decisions. Consequently, we have generally limited our review of this discretion to decisions based on an unconstitutional motive. Wade v. United States, 504 U.S. 181 (1992); Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598 (1985). We have restricted our review because the appropriate exercise of prosecutorial discretion is particularly ill-suited to judicial review; prosecutorial decisions generally are riot readily susceptible to the kind of analysis courts are competent to undertake. Wayter, 470 U.S. at 607. Moreover, extensive judicial supervision of prosecutorial discretion might prove detrimental to the criminal justice system; review subjects the prosecutor's motives and decisionmaking to outside inquiry thereby chilling law enforcement and undermines prosecutorial effectiveness by revealing the government's enforcement policy. Id.
Congress has deemed it appropriate to confer prosecutorial discretion upon the government for the purposes of recommending a departure from sentencing guidelines due to a defendant's substantial assistance. See 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) (1994); U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (U.S.S.G.) § 5K1.1 (1997). Under section 5K1.1, a district court may award a downward departure from an otherwise mandatory sentencing range only if the government files a motion stating that the defendant has provided substantial assistance in investigating or prosecuting another person. U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1. This section gives the government the power, but not the *512duty, tofile a motion when the defendant has substantially assisted, thereby leaving the decision of whether to file a substantial assistance motion in the sole discretion of the government. Wade, 504 U.S. at 185. A prosecutor's refusal to file a 5K1.1 motion is evaluated like all other prosecutorial decisions; it is subject to judicial review only where the defendant can make a substantial showing of an unconstitutional motive. Id. at 185-86.
A.
The Wade mandate restricting judicial review of a prosecutor's refusal to file a 5K1.1. motion does not apply, however, where a prosecutor has specifically bargained away his discretion by entering into a plea agreement which obligates the government to file a 5K1.1 motion. Wade did not involve a plea agreement. In fact, citing Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262-63 (1971) and United States v. Conner, 930 F.2d 1073, 1075-77 (4th Cir. 1991), the Court specifically noted that the defendant in Wade did not claim that the government's discretion to file a 5K1.1 motion was superseded by an agreement. Wade, 504 U.S. at 185. Implicit in Wade, therefore, is the proposition that a court may review a prosecutor's decision not to file a 5K1.1 motion for more than just unconstitutional motive if the prosecutor has entered into a plea agreement which specifically limits his otherwise broad discretion to file a substantial assistance motion.
The Court's references to Santobello and Conner are instructive on this point. In Santobello, the Court held that "when a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled." Santobello, 404 U.S. at 262. In Conner, our sister court of appeals, for the Fourth Circuit, applied the holding of Santobello to a plea agreement in which the government promised to file a 5K1.1 motion in return for the defendant's substantial assistance. Conner, 930 F.2d at 1076-77. The court held that "once the government uses its § 5K1.1 discretion as a bargaining chip in the plea negotiation process, that discretion is circumscribed by the terms of the agreement." Id. at 1075.
After Conners, courts have consistently held that a prosecutor's plea agreement promise to file a 5K1.1 motion in exchange for a *513defendant's substantial assistance is subject to judicial review. See, e.g., United States v. Roman, 121 F.3d 136 (3d Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 118 S. Ct. 722 (1998); United States v. Dixon, 998 F.2d 228 (4th Cir. 1993). It is therefore clear that when a prosecutor enters into a plea agreement which diminishes his discretion to determine whether the defendant has rendered substantial assistance, courts may review a prosecutor's decision not to file a 5K1.1 motion to determine if the defendant's assistance was substantial and if the prosecutor acted in good faith in failing to file the motion.
B.
The more interesting question presented by this appeal, however, is whether a district court may review the government's decision to refrain from filing a 5K1.1 motion when the plea agreement provides that the government retains sole discretion to determine whether the motion is appropriate.
To answer this question, we must start with the approach to analyzing plea agreements annunciated in Santobello. Under Santobello, we must determine whether the prosecutor has made a promise to file a 5K1.1 motion which induced the defendant to enter into the plea agreement. As noted by the majority, the plea agreement here provides, in relevant part, as follows:
1. The defendant agrees to cooperate fully and truthfully with the government....
4. If the Government in its sole discretion determines that the defendant has fulfilled his obligations of cooperation as set forth above, at the time of sentencing or within one (1) year thereof the government will . . .
b. Make a motion to allow the Court to depart from the Sentencing Guidelines pursuant to Sentencing Guideline § 5K1.1, if the government, it in its sole discretion, determines that the defendant has provided substantial assistance in the investigation or prosecution of another person who has committed an offense ....
App. at 24, 27. Given that the plea agreement clearly states that a 5K1.1 motion will only be filed if the government, in its sole *514discretion, determines that Isaac has provided substantial assistance, Isaac could not have reasonably believed that the government would automatically file a 5K1.1 motion if he cooperated. Accordingly, under Santobello, the government has not made a promise to file a 5K1.1 motion which reasonably induced Isaac to enter the plea agreement.
In the absence of a promise by the prosecutor tofile a 5K1.1 motion which induced Isaac to enter the plea agreement, the principles set forth in Santobello are inapposite. We are therefore left with the same prosecutorial discretion that was at issue in Wade; discretion that has not been limited by a plea agreement. In this situation, Wade inescapably governs the extent of our review. Accordingly, because Isaac concedes that there is no reason to believe that the government's refusal to file a 5K1.1 motion was based on constitutionally suspect grounds, the district court correctly refused to review that decision pursuant to Wade.
The overwhelming majority of our sister courts that have decided this issue have reached this conclusion. See, e.g., United States v. Courtois, 131 F.3d 937, 939 (10th Cir. 1997) (holding that where plea agreement states that the discretion to file a downward departure motion rests with the government, the government does not obligate itself to file a 5K1.1 motion and the court reviews only for unconstitutional motive); United States v. Mote, 97 F.3d 1462, 1996 WL 528437 (9th Cir. September 19, 1996) (unpublished opinion) (holding that government does not breach plea agreement by refusing to file 5K1.1 motion where agreement states that the government alone will determine whether to file the motion); United States v. Price, 95 F.3d 364, 368 (5th Cir. 1996) (stating "where the plea agreement expressly states that the government retains 'sole discretion' over the decision as to whether or not to submit a motion, we have held that a refusal to do so is reviewable only for unconstitutional motive."); United States v. Forney, 9 F.3d 1492 (11th Cir. 1993); United States v. Romsey, 975 F.2d 556 (8th Cir. 1992) (holding that where plea agreement preserves prosecutorial discretion tofile 5K1.1 motion, court will only review for unconstitutional motive); United States v. Burrell, 963 F.2d 976 (7th Cir. 1992); United States v. Raynor, 939 F.2d 191, 195 (4th Cir. 1991) (holding that where plea agreement did not promise a 5K1.1 motion, court *515correctly refused to inquire into government's reasons for not filing the motion ).8
In United States v. Burrell, 963 F.2d 976 (7th Cir. 1992), for example, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected the defendant's argument that the government had breached its plea agreement by refusing to file a 5K1.1 motion where the plea agreement granted the government sole discretion to file the motion. The court reasoned that because the agreement did not require the government to move for a departure in exchange for the defendant's guilty plea, there was no breach of the agreement. Id. at 985. The court further determined that because the defendant had not asserted that the government's refusal was based on an unconstitutional motive, the government's refusal to move for a departure was within its prosecutorial discretion. Id.
Similarly, in United States v. Forney, 9 F.3d 1492, 1501-02 (11th Cir. 1993), the Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit applied the Wade standard to a prosecutor's decision not to file a 5K1.1 motion where the plea agreement preserved the government's prosecutorial discretion. The plea agreement at. issue in Forney required only that the government consider filing a 5K1.1 motion. The court reasoned that because there was no evidence that the government did not consider filing the motion, which is all it promised to do, the government had not failed to comply with the explicit provisions of the plea agreement. Forney, 9 F.3d at 1500 n.2. The court concluded that the contract analysis suggested by Santobello therefore was not implicated. Id.
*516C.
The majority's holding that when a plea agreement is involved courts must review a prosecutor's failure to file a 5K1.1 motion for good faith even if the plea agreement reserves the prosecutor's discretion to make the motion fails to adhere faithfully to Wayte, Santobello and Wade and, moreover, undermines the policies underlying those decisions.
I believe the majority's position contravenes the basic policies the Court outlined in Wayte. Wayte teaches that judicial review is inappropriate for prosecutorial decisions that are not readily susceptible to the kind of analysis courts are competent to undertake. Wayte, 470 U.S. at 607. Because a prosecutor can legitimately exercise his discretion to not file a substantial assistance motion for a variety of reasons which are unrelated to the amount of assistance the defendant has provided, where a plea agreement specifically preserves that discretion, courts are not competent to review the decision not to file. See generally, Wade, 504 U.S. at 187 (noting that the government may choose not to move "simply on its rational assessment of the cost and benefit that wouldflow from moving"). Wayte further emphasizes that review of prosecutorial discretion detrimentally affects the administration of justice. Wayte, 470 U.S. at 607. Where a plea agreement specifically preserves prosecutorial discretion, judicial scrutiny of the prosecutor's decision not to file a substantial assistance motion chills the government's ability effectively to obtain a defendant's cooperation by undermining the government's policy on what assistance should be deemed to be substantial.
The majority's position also contravenes Santobello. The Court explained in Santobello that plea agreements are an essential and highly desirable component of the administration of justice and are to be encouraged when properly obtained. Santobello, 404 U.S. at 260-61. As long as the defendant has been properly apprised of the terms of the agreement and voluntarily enters the plea agreement, the plea agreement must be enforced. Santobello requires only that the defendant receive "what is reasonably due in the circumstances." Id. at 262. Where, as here, a plea agreement provides that the prosecutor, retains sole discretion to file a substantial assistance motion, the defendant cannot sensibly contend that he did not *517receive what he was reasonably due when the prosecutor exercises the discretion he has retained by not filing the motion. The majority's contrary position is inconsistent with the basic premise of Santobello that a plea bargain, like any contract, should be interpreted in accordance with the reasonable expectations of the parties.9
In light of the policy concerns underlying Wayte and Wade and the fact that, under Santobello, the plea agreement here does not abrogate but rather preserves the extent of prosecutorial discretion at issue in Wade, I must dissent. While Wade may not apply to a case where a prosecutor has bargained away his discretion, this is not such a case.
Furthermore, the majority's position fails to take into account that Congress has specifically set forth a statutory scheme which places the broad discretion to determine whether a defendant's assistance is substantial in the hands of prosecutors, not judges.10 Absent a plea agreement in which the government specifically bargains away this broad discretion, the courts must not interfere with the system Congress established. As aptly noted by one court, "[a]ny change in governmental discretion relating to 5K1.1 motions stated in these statutes must come from Congress or the Sentencing Commission, and not from the courts." Forney, 9 F.3d at 1502 n.4.
*518II.
I also disagree with the majority's adoption of the Second Circuit's test in United States v. Imtiaz, 81 F.3d 262 (2d Cir. 1996) which sets forth the burdens of production that would trigger judicial review. Under Imtiaz, a defendant's mere allegation that the government acted in bad faith is sufficient to trigger the government's obligation to explain its reasoning for refusing to depart. Imtiaz, 81 F.3d at 264. Based on the previously articulated policy concerns relating to prosecutorial discretion, at a minimum the defendant should be required to produce some evidence that the government has acted in bad faith before the government should be required to state its reasons for refusing to file a substantial assistance motion. Accordingly, I would not adopt the Imtiaz approach.
III.
For the foregoing reasons, I would affirm the district court's order in its entirety.

 I disagree with the majority's characterization of Mote, Price, Romsey, and Raynor. These cases do apply contract principles in construing the plea agreements at issue. See, e.g., Mote, 1996 WL 528437 at *1 (stating "[a] plea agreement is contractual in nature and is subject to contract law standards"); Price, 95 F.3d at 368 (stating that issue turns on "specific language of the plea agreement at issue"); Romsey, 975 F.2d at 558 (basing decision on "carefully-worded plea agreement"); Raynor, 939 F.2d at 195 (holding that government did not promise to file a 5K1.1 motion under terms of plea agreement). In addition, each of these cases holds that where the government has entered into a plea agreement which preserves its discretion to file a 5K1.1 motion, the courts may only review for unconstitutional motive. Under this rule, allegations of prosecutorial bad faith are irrelevant.

 The majority's analysis disregards the government's reasonable expectations in entering into the plea agreement with Isaac. As noted by the court in Forney:
[T]he government drafts a plea agreement requiring cooperation from a defendant so that it will not be obligated to make a 5K1.Í motion unless the assistance, which may have been misrepresented by the defendant prior to entering the plea agreement or for the purpose of obtaining a plea agreement, is useful.
Forney, 9 F.3d at 1503 n.4. The government's expectation that the unambiguous sole discretion language in Isaac's plea agreement would accomplish this goal is inherently reasonable and should be afforded due consideration.

 As several courts have recognized, the government is not only in the best position to determine whether the defendant has provided substantial assistance but also has a very strong incentive to exercise its discretion fairly in order to encourage future cooperation. Forney, 9 F.3d at 1503 n.4; United States v. Doe, 934 F.2d 353, 358 (D.C. Cir. 1991); United States v. La Guardia, 902 F.2d 1010, 1015-16 (1st Cir. 1990).