Sentence That’s Greater Than Terms of Plea Agreement is not Knowing and Voluntary

Uselman v. State, Minn.Ct.App., 6/10/2013.  Mr. Uselman is a resident at the Moose Lake Treatment Center.  He pled guilty to assaulting one of the program staff.  The plea agreement stated that his sentence would not include a mandatory five year conditional release term.  The boilerplate on the plea petition included this handwritten declaration:  “In this case the period of conditional release is N/A years.”  At sentencing, however, the court, with apparent defense counsel acquiescence, imposed the conditional release term.

Well, this recitation in the plea agreement is incorrect  under the law because this conditional release term can’t be waived.  Mr. Uselman ultimately timely filed a post conviction petition seeking to withdraw his guilty plea.  The court of appeals agrees with his argument that his plea was not knowing and voluntary because the plea agreement rested upon a promise that the state could not fulfill.  Further, the trial court had a duty to inform Mr. Uselman that it intended to impose a sentence greater than the parties’ agreement and permit him to withdraw the plea.

The post conviction court had thought that Mr. Uselman’s knowledge of the conditional release term could be inferred.  The court of appeals couldn’t get past just how that’s possible in the face of an express provision in the plea petition to the contrary.  Moreover, the state admitted that the guilty plea occurred under the terms of that plea agreement.

Mr. Uselman gets to withdraw his guilty plea if that’s what he wants to do.