IN RE: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - Articles

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IN RE: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Posted by: Tanja Trezise on Apr 26, 2022

Court: 6th Circuit Court (Published Opinions)

Attorneys 1: ARGUED: Andrew Goetz, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Detroit, Michigan, for Petitioner.

Attorneys 2: ARGUED: Gerald K. Evelyn, Detroit, Michigan, for Respondent Ashley Townsend. John Gleeson, DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP, New York, New York, for Respondent Hon. David M. Lawson.

Attorneys 3: ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS AND REPLY: Andrew Goetz, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Detroit, Michigan, for Petitioner.

Attorneys 4: ON RESPONSE: Gerald K. Evelyn, Robert E. Higbee, Detroit, Michigan, for Respondent Ashley Townsend.

Attorneys 5: ON RESPONSE: John Gleeson, Matthew Specht, Monisola Salaam, DEBEVOISE & PLIMPTON LLP, New York, New York, for Respondent Hon. David M. Lawson.

Attorneys 6: ON RESPONSE: Bradley R. Hall, CRIMINAL DEFESE ATTORNEYS OF MICHIGAN, Lansing, Michigan, for Amicus Curiae.

Judge(s): SUTTON, Chief Judge, BATCHELDER and LARSEN, Circuit Judges

Court Appealed: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Detroit

ALICE M. BATCHELDER, Circuit Judge. Before us is a petition from the United States for a writ of mandamus directed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The petition poses questions about a district court’s authority to comment on pending plea-bargain agreements and to reject an agreement once it is finalized.

At a pretrial hearing, the district court informed the United States and the Defendant that it had a longstanding “practice” of rejecting plea agreements with certain plea-bargaining terms. The parties thereafter negotiated a plea agreement in private and decided to include the very terms that the court had stated that it disfavored. The court rejected the agreement, and the United States filed this petition, claiming that the court violated Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and abused its discretion. We AGREE and GRANT the petition.

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