St. James v. People

Citation948 P.2d 1028
Decision Date08 December 1997
Docket NumberNo. 96SC580,96SC580
Parties97 CJ C.A.R. 3036 Steven ST. JAMES, Petitioner, v. The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Respondent.
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado

Chambers, Dansky and Hansen, P.C., David J. Dansky, Denver, for Petitioner.

Gale A. Norton, Attorney General, Martha Phillips Allbright, Chief Deputy Attorney General, Richard A. Westfall, Solicitor General, John Daniel Dailey, Deputy Attorney General, Robert Mark Russel, First Assistant Attorney General, Clemmie P. Engle, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Enforcement Section Denver, for Respondent.

Justice MARTINEZ delivered the Opinion of the Court.

This appeal involves an alleged breach of a plea agreement between the defendant, Steven M. St. James, and the prosecution. St. James filed a Crim. P. 35(c) motion alleging that the prosecution's statements at a sentencing hearing breached its promise to refrain from advocating a particular sentence. After considering "the totality of the circumstances under which the sentence was imposed," the trial court determined that "the sentence is appropriate and should not be modified." In People v. St. James, 931 P.2d 501 (Colo.App.1996), the court of appeals applied a de novo standard of review and affirmed the trial court's order denying St. James's Crim. P. 35(c) motion. 1 The court of appeals correctly applied a de novo standard of review in determining the meaning of the plea agreement. We hold, however, that the appropriate standard of appellate review for an alleged breach of a plea agreement is whether the trial court's determination was clearly erroneous. We therefore reverse and direct the court of appeals to remand the case to the trial court with directions that it apply the meaning of the agreement which we determined in our de novo review and decide whether the prosecution's comments at the sentencing hearing were a material and substantial breach of the plea agreement.

I.

On May 10, 1988, St. James pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with one count of felony theft by receiving 2 and one count of felony attempted possession of a vehicle without a vehicle identification number. 3 In return for his plea, the prosecution agreed to dismiss the remaining criminal charges as well as additional criminal actions pending in Boulder, Arapahoe, and Summit Counties. 4 The plea agreement also required the prosecution to refrain from "advocat[ing] a sentence to the Department of Corrections ... a sentence of probation ... [or] a sentence to Community Corrections." However, the prosecution expressly reserved the right to "place all of the appropriate facts before the Court for consideration." 5

After entering his plea, St. James absconded and failed to appear for sentencing until he was apprehended three years later. However, the parties continued to abide by the terms of the plea agreement. In October 1991, the trial court conducted a sentencing hearing during which St. James and his attorney addressed the court, and the prosecution responded with the following remarks:

Your Honor, the defendant's criminal history runs from basically the time he was 18 years old until the present date. Now, it's a continuous criminal history, time after time after time after time, he commits crimes.... I paint a different picture of Mr. St. James [than the one presented by defense counsel]. I paint a picture of Mr. St. James that he is a consummate con artist, and he knows precisely what he's done. And, yet, he only walks away with so few convictions.... And does he pay for [the cars involved in the charges]? No, he doesn't pay for them. And, yet, a few years later, in between the time he pled guilty in this case and the time he is here today [three years], he does the same thing again. He cons women or he convinces these women that they should be involved in these insurance scams....

The trial court sentenced St. James to fourteen years for theft by receiving, with a consecutive six-year sentence for attempted possession of a vehicle without a vehicle identification number. 6

In May 1995, St. James filed a Crim. P. 35(c) motion alleging that the prosecution's remarks during the 1991 sentencing hearing breached the terms of the plea agreement and that his sentence should therefore be vacated and the action remanded for resentencing. St. James asserted that the prosecution's recitation of St. James's criminal history, coupled with statements that St. James was a "consummate con artist" who had repeatedly engaged in the type of criminal activity for which he was being sentenced, frustrated St. James's reasonable expectation that the prosecution would refrain from advocating a sentence. On May 25, 1995, the trial court, "[a]fter considering the totality of the circumstances under which the sentence was imposed," determined that "the sentence is appropriate and should not be modified." Thus, the trial court denied the Crim. P. 35(c) motion.

Applying a de novo standard of review, the court of appeals affirmed the trial court and held that the prosecution "did not agree to take 'no position' on sentencing. Rather, [the prosecution] agreed only that [it] would not advocate a particular sentence, a more narrow promise." St. James, 931 P.2d at 503. The court reasoned that "the rhetoric defendant challenges falls short of the more inflammatory rhetoric" involved in other federal cases. Id. The court of appeals concluded that the prosecution's comments did not "violate any reasonable expectation arising under [St. James's] plea agreement." Id. at 504.

II.

Interpreting the meaning of a plea agreement is strictly a question of law. The court of appeals properly applied a de novo standard of review in determining that the plea agreement called for the prosecution not to advocate a particular sentence. However, the court of appeals erroneously applied a de novo standard of review to decide whether the prosecutor's conduct violated the plea agreement.

A.

The court of appeals began its analysis of whether the prosecutor's sentencing argument violated the plea agreement by expressing its understanding that "[t]he standard of reviewing a trial court's determination of a claim that a plea agreement has been breached is unsettled." St. James, 931 P.2d at 503. The court noted that the defendant did not seek an evidentiary hearing and never alleged that any extrinsic evidence was relevant to an interpretation of the plea agreement, but based his appeal solely on the transcript of the sentencing hearing. The court utilized the de novo standard of review because there were no contested facts before the trial court concerning either the interpretation of the plea agreement or the content of the prosecutor's sentencing argument. Id. Thus, the court of appeals "assume[d] without deciding" that the circumstances presented an issue of law for de novo review because St. James "did not seek an evidentiary hearing on his Crim. P. 35(c) motion and, on appeal, likewise does not allege that any extrinsic evidence is relevant to an interpretation of the stipulation." Id.

It is true that courts are divided concerning the standard of appellate review to be applied to a trial court's determination of whether a plea agreement has been violated. See United States v. Pollard, 959 F.2d 1011, 1022-23 (D.C.Cir.1992). Several courts employ a de novo standard. See United States v. Cooper, 70 F.3d 563, 565 (10th Cir.1995); Allen v. Hadden, 57 F.3d 1529, 1534 (10th Cir.1995); United States v. O'Rourke, 43 F.3d 82, 94 (3d Cir.1994); Lucero v. Kerby, 7 F.3d 1520, 1522 (10th Cir.1993); United States v. Moscahlaidis, 868 F.2d 1357, 1360 (3d Cir.1989). Other courts employ a clearly erroneous standard. See United States v. Conner, 930 F.2d 1073, 1076-77 (4th Cir.1991); Raulerson v. United States, 901 F.2d 1009, 1012 (11th Cir.1990); United States v. Ataya, 864 F.2d 1324, 1327 (7th Cir.1988); United States v. Parrilla-Marquez, 825 F.2d 572, 578 (1st Cir.1987); United States v. Wood, 780 F.2d 929, 932 (11th Cir.1986); State v. Wills, 193 Wis.2d 273, 533 N.W.2d 165, 166 (1995).

It is not true that the standard of review to be applied to a trial court's determination of whether a plea agreement has been violated is unsettled in Colorado. In People v. McCormick, 859 P.2d 846 (Colo.1993), we considered the appropriate standard for reviewing violations of plea agreements. We granted certiorari specifically "to address the appropriate standard to be applied in determining whether a defendant has breached a plea agreement." Id. at 856. 7 We held that "[i]f a trial court's finding of a material and substantial breach is supported by evidence in the record, it will not be overturned on appeal unless the reviewing court is convinced that the finding is clearly erroneous." Id. at 858.

McCormick did not discuss the standard of review involved in determining the meaning of the plea agreement. Instead, McCormick reviewed the trial court's factual determination that the defendant's conduct discharged the prosecution from performing its obligations under the plea agreement. We discern no reason to depart from the clearly erroneous standard applied in McCormick merely because we are reviewing the prosecution's actions here. Regardless of which party allegedly violates a plea agreement, a trial court judge is in the best position to evaluate whether the conduct of a party exceeded the bounds of an agreement.

Appellate review of plea agreements often involves a blend of law and facts. Cases involving conduct that may have violated plea agreements can turn on an evaluation of demeanor conveyed through voice inflections or even facial expressions. See Pollard, 959 F.2d at 1023. Trial judges have an advantage in making factual determinations because they hear the evidence and observe the demeanor of witnesses. Accordingly, we have previously recognized that the trial court initially resolves disputed factual questions, which are...

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  • Browning v. State
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming
    • 9 octobre 2001
    ...any breach of the plea agreement by the government was not "material" in light of what occurred at sentencing); and St. James v. People, 948 P.2d 1028, 1032 (Colo.1997) (stating that a party is released from its plea agreement obligations in situations where the other party materially and s......
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    ...the plea agreement by her action or inaction. See People v. McCormick, 859 P.2d 846, 856-57 (Colo. 1993); see also St. James v. People, 948 P.2d 1028, 1032 (Colo.1997) (applying McCormick). Here, we are concerned only with the second We discussed the implications of a defendant's breach of ......
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1 books & journal articles
  • An Appellate Primer for Family Law Practitioners
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    • Colorado Bar Association Colorado Lawyer No. 30-3, March 2001
    • Invalid date
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