US v. Warner

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. XAYVER JERVONTE-MARQUI WARNER
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Niemeyer, Apr. 27, 2016,
Plea Agreement – Where a prosecutor agreed to a plea advising the court that an enhancement did not apply, violation of agreement where the prosecutor subsequently changed position and advised sentencing court that the enhancement did apply even where it asked the court to go along with the original plea anyway (where the court ended up applying the enhancement).


Plea agreement – When interpreting plea agreements, “we draw upon contract law as a guide to ensure that each party receives the benefit of
the bargain,” and to that end, we “enforce a plea agreement’s plain language in its ordinary sense.

Plea agreement – 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. Citing USSC in Santobello

Plea Agreement – Remedy – When a court of appeals finds a material breach of a plea agreement and the defendant seeks to withdraw his guilty plea, the court should remand the case to the district court to assess whether, in the circumstances of the case, it would be appropriate to grant that relief or the lesser relief of specific performance of the agreement. If, however, the defendant seeks only specific performance, then the court should honor that election and remand for resentencing by a different judge.

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