U.S. v. Becklean, 79-1043

• Decision Date: 07 June 1979
• Docket Number: No. 79-1043,79-1043
• Citation: 598 F.2d 1122
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. David Lawrence BECKLEAN, and Jack Henry Cordsen, Appellants, Kenneth F. Brown and Mark Cello.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 1122

598 F.2d 1122

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. David Lawrence BECKLEAN, and Jack Henry Cordsen, Appellants Kenneth F. Brown and Mark Cello.

No. 79-1043.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted March 12, 1979.

Decided May 14, 1979.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied June 7, 1979.

Michael J. Drape, Kansas City, Mo. (argued), for appellant David L. Becklean; Leslie Scherr, Washington, D. C. (argued), for appellant Jack H. Cordsen; William F. Krebs, and Thomas A. Wadden, Jr., Washington, D. C., on brief.

Ronald S. Reed, U. S. Atty., Kansas City, Mo. (argued), for appellee; Cynthia A Clark, Asst. U. S. Atty., Kansas City, Mo., on brief.

Before LAY, ROSS and McMILLIAN, Circuit Judges.

LAY, Circuit Judge.

David Lawrence Becklean and Jack Henry Cordsen appeal from an order of the United States District Court, Russell G. Clark, J., denying their motions pursuant to Rule 32(d), Fed.R.Crim.P., to withdraw their guilty pleas and vacate the sentences entered on their pleas. ¹ We affirm.

This case commenced on April 27, 1978, with the return of a 48 count indictment alleging violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1341 (mail fraud); 18 U.S.C. § 1343 (wire fraud) and 18 U.S.C. § 371 (conspiracy). Becklean was charged in 26 counts, Cordsen in 12.

Soon after the indictment was returned the United States Attorney offered defendants a plea agreement. The substance of the agreement was that if Becklean, Cordsen and another codefendant entered guilty pleas to the conspiracy count and one count of mail/wire fraud and exonerated the remaining codefendant on the record, the Government would dismiss the remaining counts, seek dismissal of all counts against the exonerated codefendant, not pursue any further indictments and make no recommendations to the court at sentencing. The offer was further conditioned on all three defendants pleading guilty. The offer was rejected.

Two months later the Government tendered a second offer that contained many of the elements of the first offer, including the provision that the Government would make no recommendation at sentencing. Becklean and Cordsen, however, would have to plead guilty to 10 counts. Again the offer was rejected.

In late July 1978 Robert B. Schneider, the Assistant United States Attorney who had participated in the earlier plea discussions, became involved in another criminal action that required his full attention. The case was then assigned to Cynthia Clark, who up to that time had been assisting Schneider. Ms. Clark continued preparation of the case on a full time basis, with the expectation of going to trial. During that time she advised defense counsel that "all deals were off."

On the morning of September 27, 1978, two days before trial was scheduled to begin, attorneys for Becklean and Cordsen and the Government conferred concerning another plea arrangement. Eventually the attorneys, subject to their clients' approval, agreed that Becklean would enter guilty pleas to 15 counts, Cordsen would enter guilty pleas to eight counts and the remaining counts would be dismissed at the time of sentencing. Defense counsel then met with Becklean and Cordsen to discuss the proposal.

That afternoon Becklean and Cordsen entered their guilty pleas. At the change in plea hearing the court took separately the pleas of Becklean and Cordsen, conducting an inquiry into the terms of any existing plea agreement. For each defendant the court asked the Government what the plea agreement was, and in each case Ms. Clark advised only that the Government agreed to dismiss the counts remaining against each defendant. Each defendant and his counsel separately were asked whether or not Ms. Clark correctly had stated the plea agreement. Each replied that she had. ²

On November 20, 1978, Becklean and Cordsen appeared before Judge Clark for sentencing. The Becklean sentencing took place first. The court asked Ms. Clark whether the Government had any recommendation, whereupon she recommended that Becklean be sentenced to 25 years confinement and fined $35,000. Thomas Cox, Becklean's attorney, protested that it was his understanding that the Government would not recommend a sentence. Cox informed the court that he had told his client that the plea agreement included no sentence recommendation and that Ms. Clark's recommendation "puts me in a situation where I have misled my client, either through my inadvertence or by my misinterpretation of the Government's position, or the Government changing its position." Judge Clark stated he was not going to follow Ms. Clark's recommendation. At that time neither Cox nor Becklean moved to withdraw the guilty plea. Becklean was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and fined $26,000.

The court then sentenced Cordsen. Again Ms. Clark recommended 25 years imprisonment and a $35,000 fine. Neither Cordsen nor his attorney made any effort either to protest the Government's recommendation or to withdraw Cordsen's guilty plea. Cordsen was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and fined $29,000.

Two days before defendants were to have commenced serving their sentences the instant motions were filed. Following an evidentiary hearing the court found that the Government had made no agreement concerning sentencing recommendations but that both defendants were under the impression, as conveyed by their attorneys, that the Government would make no recommendations concerning the sentence to be imposed. After examining the history of the plea discussions, however, the court found that defendants' impressions did not play a significant part in motivating defendants' guilty pleas and denied their motions. This appeal followed.

Rule 32(d), Fed.R.Crim.P., provides that a motion to withdraw a plea of guilty after sentencing will be allowed only to correct a manifest injustice. ³ Meyer v United States, 424 F.2d 1181, 1190 (8th Cir. 1970). A defendant seeking such relief bears the burden of proof and resolution of this issue is within the discretion of the trial court, the only issue on appeal being whether that discretion has been abused. Sherburne v. United States, 433 F.2d 1350, 1353 (8th Cir. 1970).

The defendants urge their motions to withdraw their pleas are governed by the principles stated by the Supreme Court in Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971). There the Court wrote:

(W)hen a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor, so that it can be said to be part of the inducement or consideration, such promise must be fulfilled.

Id. at 262, 92 S.Ct. at 499. See also United States v. Shanahan, 574 F.2d 1228, 1230 (5th Cir. 1978); United States v. Miller, 565 F.2d 1273, 1274 (3d Cir. 1977), Cert. denied, 436 U.S. 959, 98 S.Ct. 3076, 57 L.Ed.2d 1125 (1978). The district court distinguished Santobello because the plea agreement under which defendants entered their pleas Did not contain a provision that the Government would make no sentencing recommendation. The district court found defendants' understanding to the contrary was created by the mistaken impressions conveyed to defendants by their attorneys.

A defense counsel's mistaken representation to a defendant as to what a prosecutor promised may constitute grounds to vacate the plea, notwithstanding the prosecutor's lack of complicity in the mistake, if the representation played a substantial part in inducing the plea. Cf. McAleney v. United States, 539 F.2d 282, 286-87 (1st Cir. 1976); Petraborg v. United States, 432 F.2d 1194, 1197 (7th Cir. 1970). See also United States v. Scharf, 568 F.2d 106 (8th Cir. 1978). The district court found, however, that defendants' understanding did not play a substantial part in their decision to enter guilty pleas.

Defendants contend the district court's finding is unsupported by the record. The district court noted, however, that the dictates of Rule 11, Fed.R.Crim.P., were followed. The district court directly inquired of the existence and contents of a plea agreement. Despite an opportunity to do so, defendants did not dispute the terms of the agreement as stated by the Government. Moreover, when the court asked the Government for a recommendation and received one, neither defense counsel, both experienced attorneys, moved to withdraw defendants' guilty pleas. It is true that Becklean's attorney protested that he may have misled his client, but no motion to withdraw the plea followed. Cordsen's attorney stood mute. In addition Cordsen and his attorney responded in the negative when asked if there was any reason why sentence should not be imposed. ⁴

Defendants contend the fact that they did not respond to the court's inquiry into the terms of the plea agreement is not conclusive. They rely on language in United States v. Hammerman, 528 F.2d 326, 331 (4th Cir. 1975):

At arraignment Mr. Hammerman was asked whether there were any other understandings or commitments by the government. He responded negatively. We have held that even where the answer to such an inquiry denies the very existence of a plea bargain, it is not to be...