United States v. Walker

The Second Circuit vacated defendant's 360 month sentence and five year term of supervised release for a single count of conspiring to distribute at least 200 grams of crack cocaine. Defendant pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea agreement in return for an estimated sentence of 108 to 135 months in prison.The court held that the government breached defendant's plea agreement when the government, based on information that it knew at the time of the plea, sought a substantially higher sentence than that estimated in defendant's plea deal. In this case, defendant could not have reasonably expected that the government would change its position in such a manner when he consented to the Pimentel estimate in his plea bargain. Accordingly, the court remanded to a different district court judge for resentencing. View "United States v. Walker" on Justia Law