Court Opinion

ID: 9856544
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:50:12.044408+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:39:12.845045
License: Public Domain

HUNTLEY, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent from the majority opinion on the basis that, despite the unusual circumstances of this case, the State should nevertheless be required to keep its word in the bargain it struck. Ballard entered a guilty plea based upon an agreement by the State that it would limit its sentence recommendation to no more than an indeterminate ten-year sentence concurrent with an indeterminate three-year sentence in another matter.
Despite the subsequent wrongful acts of Ballard, the State is not entitled to retain the guilty plea unless it wishes to abide by the obligations it undertook in the plea bargain.
The appropriate remedy is to allow the withdrawal of the plea and set the case for immediate trial, which would undoubtedly result in the State obtaining a conviction while retaining its honor.