After Rejecting Plea Agreement, District Court Cannot Offer a Defendant a Particular Sentence in Exchange For Affirming Plea

Melde v. State, Minn.Ct.App., 2/16/2010.  Mr. Melde pled guilty to one count of first degree DWI and to driving after cancellation, inimical.  In return, the state agreed to recommend a stay of execution of sentence on the DWI.  The trial court accepted the plea, adjudicated him guilty and ordered a pre-sentence investigation.

After reading the PSI the court declined to stay execution of the sentence, a dispositional departure.  The court offered Mr. Melde the choice of either withdrawing the plea or accepting a sentence at the low end of the applicable Guidelines box; Mr. Melde jumped on the low end of the box offer from the court and maintained his guilty plea.

He then thought better of it once in prison and so Mr. Melde petitioned to withdraw the plea.  He argued that the trial court had injected itself into plea negotiations.

Here’s how the appellate court describes the court’s role:

The district court’s proper role is one of “discreet inquiry into the propriety of the settlement submitted for judicial acceptance,” both to make certain that an innocent person has not been induced to plead guilty to a crime and to “protect society” from a defendant being permitted to bargain for an excessively lenient sentence.

When a court rejects a plea agreement a defendant is automatically entitled to withdraw the plea.  The court acts improperly by promising a particular sentence that was not part of an existing agreement between the prosecutor and the defendant.  Mr. Melde gets to withdraw his plea.