State v. Montiel

• Court: Utah Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Durham
• Citation: State v. Montiel, 2005 UT 48, 122 P.3d 571 (Utah 2005)
• Decision Date: 05 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. 20040780.,20040780.
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Alex MONTIEL, Defendant and Petitioner.

122 P.3d 571

2005 UT 48

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Alex MONTIEL, Defendant and Petitioner.

No. 20040780.

Supreme Court of Utah.

August 5, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Mark L. Shurtleff, Att'y Gen., Karen A. Klucznik, Asst. Att'y Gen., Byron F. Burmester, Asst. Att'y Gen., Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.

Lori Seppi, Heidi Buchi, Salt Lake City, for defendant.

On Certiorari to the Utah Court of Appeals

DURHAM, Chief Justice:

¶ 1 Defendant Alex Montiel appealed his conviction for aggravated robbery, arguing that the trial court abused its discretion in rejecting a pretrial plea agreement based on a stated policy of rejecting pleas that waive penalty enhancements for use of a firearm. The court of appeals affirmed Montiel's conviction. We granted certiorari to consider the scope of judicial discretion vis-à-vis plea agreements. We hold that trial courts retain broad—though not unlimited—discretion in accepting or rejecting plea agreements, and that, under the circumstances of this case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion. We therefore affirm the court of appeals.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 Montiel was charged with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, in violation of Utah Code section 76-6-302. If convicted, Montiel was also subject to an enhanced penalty pursuant to Utah Code section 76-3-203.1 because the crime was committed in concert with two or more persons. Under Utah Code section 76-3-203,¹ Montiel was arguably subject to a further enhanced penalty for use of a dangerous weapon in the commission of the underlying offense.²

¶ 3 During the pretrial conference the prosecutor informed the trial court that the State and Montiel had reached a plea agreement in which the State agreed to reduce the aggravated robbery charge to a third-degree felony in exchange for a guilty plea.³ The prosecutor explained that there were "some facts that [made] the story not as presentable to the jury and [he] would rather accept the ... lesser plea than run the risk of (inaudible)."

¶ 4 The trial court responded by noting that Montiel had been charged with a first-degree felony, which was further subject to enhanced penalties because Montiel had "used a firearm [and] committed a crime with four other persons." The court questioned why "the State want[ed] to drop this down to a third-degree felony" and then stated, "Well, I don't waive firearms enhancements, folks. You plead them, they're stuck unless I'm convinced that there was some mistake in pleading."

¶ 5 Defense counsel then offered judicial economy as an additional reason for the plea agreement. The trial court responded:

I don't care about judicial economy when people are alleged to have used firearms in the commission of a crime. I'll take whatever time is necessary to resolve the issue properly. I'm not going to waive the firearms enhancement[][u]nless you can tell me you don't have any evidence that [defendant had] a firearm or there wasn't a firearm or your witness is lying.

The prosecutor then commented that it was "just a matter of weighing ... the case" and that "sometimes it's better to have the ... verdict in hand than ... two in the bush." He further explained that the objective of the agreement was to ensure that "a dangerous person" was locked up. The court responded by saying, "Lock him up for zero to five, what kind of a deal is that?" The prosecutor replied, "It's better than zero to zero."

¶ 6 The court then inquired about the victim's response to the plea agreement. The prosecutor stated that he had "not talked to the victim about this particular one, although [he had] talked to the victim previously about offering a second (inaudible)." The trial court expressed reservations about accepting a plea when the State had not "even told the person who claims all these things occurred as to what [the State was] going to do." The court declared that the victim was "entitled to know."

¶ 7 Following this exchange, the trial court announced its ruling: "I'm not going to allow the filing of [the] amended Information [sic] at this point and I'm not going to accept any plea to a third-degree felony on the basis of what I've heard." Thereafter Montiel was tried and convicted of aggravated robbery, with sentencing subject to penalty enhancements both for committing the crime in concert with two or more persons and for using a dangerous weapon. Montiel appealed his conviction, arguing that the trial court's comments at the pretrial hearing demonstrated a fixed policy of refusing to accept plea bargains in cases involving firearms, and that rejecting Montiel's plea on the basis of such a policy constituted an abuse of the court's discretion.

¶ 8 The court of appeals affirmed Montiel's conviction, reasoning that,

[a]lthough not crystal clear, the record in this case is sufficient to support the State's argument that the trial court rejected the plea agreement, not only because the underlying charge involved the use of a firearm, but also because the court was concerned that Defendant would receive too lenient a sentence under the terms of the agreement and because the victim had not been informed of the agreement.

State v. Montiel, 2004 UT App 242, ¶ 17, 95 P.3d 1216. We granted Montiel's petition for a writ of certiorari as to the following issue: whether the trial court's stated policy of refusing to allow plea reductions in cases where a firearm had been used constituted a refusal to properly exercise its discretion in assessing the appropriateness of the plea agreement.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 9 "On certiorari, we review the decision of the court of appeals and not that of the district court." State v. Brake, 2004 UT 95, ¶ 11, 103 P.3d 699. "We conduct that review for correctness, ceding no deference to the court of appeals." Id. "The correctness of the court of appeals' decision turns on whether that court accurately reviewed the trial court's decision under the appropriate standard of review." State v. Visser, 2000 UT 88, ¶ 9, 22 P.3d 1242. The standard of review in assessing the appropriateness of a trial court's acceptance or rejection of a plea agreement is abuse of discretion. State v. Turner, 980 P.2d 1188, 1189-90 (Utah Ct.App.1998). A failure to exercise discretion is generally encompassed within the meaning of abuse of discretion. See United States v. Miller, 722 F.2d 562, 565 (9th Cir.1983) ("[A]s a general rule, the existence of discretion requires its exercise."); People v. Darlington, 105 P.3d 230, 232 (Colo.2005) ("[F]ailure to exercise discretion is itself an abuse of discretion."). Therefore, we must determine whether the court of appeals correctly decided that the trial court properly exercised its discretion in rejecting the plea agreement.

ANALYSIS

¶ 10 Montiel contends that the court of appeals erred in affirming his conviction because the trial court (1) failed to consider all legally relevant factors; (2) exceeded the scope of its authority; and (3) acted arbitrarily in its rejection of the plea agreement. We first outline the scope of judicial discretion in rejecting plea agreements. We then address each of Montiel's arguments in turn.

I. JUDICIAL DISCRETION REGARDING PLEA AGREEMENTS

¶ 11 We begin by noting that there is no constitutional principle that obliges a trial court to accept a defendant's guilty plea. See Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971) ("There is, of course, no absolute right to have a guilty plea accepted."); North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U.S. 25, 38, 91 S.Ct. 160, 27 L.Ed.2d 162 (1970) ("A criminal defendant does not have an absolute right under the Constitution to have his guilty plea accepted by the court...."). Indeed, "[a] plea bargain standing alone is without constitutional significance; in itself it is a mere executory agreement which, until embodied in the judgment of a court, does not deprive an accused of liberty or any other constitutionally protected interest." Mabry v. Johnson, 467 U.S. 504, 507, 104 S.Ct. 2543, 81 L.Ed.2d 437 (1984).

¶ 12 We generally adhere to the proposition that, subject to constitutional constraints, "[t]he Executive remains the absolute judge of whether a prosecution should be initiated and the first and presumptively best judge of whether a pending prosecution should be terminated." United States v. Cowan, 524 F.2d 504, 513 (5th Cir.1975); see United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 464, 116 S.Ct. 1480, 134 L.Ed.2d 687 (1996). Plea bargains, however, implicate not only the ordinarily plenary executive power to indict or dismiss; they also "go to the traditionally judicial function of determining what penalty to impose." United States v. Escobar Noble, 653 F.2d 34, 37 (1st Cir.1981); see also United States v. Torres-Echavarria, 129 F.3d 692, 696 (2d Cir.1997) ("[W]hen the dismissal of charges or agreement not to pursue potential charges is conditioned on acceptance of a plea agreement, the court's authority to adjudicate guilt and impose sentence is implicated."). Thus, after initial charges have been filed, the vast majority of courts permit, encourage, or require some degree of judicial discretion in accepting or rejecting such arrangements.

¶ 13 Moreover, it is well established under Utah law that trial courts are not required to accept plea agreements. This principle is based on the plain language of rule 11 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure, which explicitly provides that "[t]he court may refuse to accept a plea of guilty." Utah R.Crim. P. 11(e) (emphasis added).⁴ This discretion extends to guilty pleas that are tendered as part of a plea bargain. See State v. Stringham, 2001 UT App 13, ¶ 14, 17 P.3d 1153; Turner, 980 P.2d at 1190; State v. Mane, 783 P.2d 61, 66 (Utah Ct.App.1989).

¶ 14 The foregoing, however, does not imply that a trial court may reject a guilty plea arbitrarily. We acknowledge that the state is usually in a better position than the court to determine whether a plea...