State v. Rose

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the district court rejecting a reoffered plea agreement between the State and Appellant and leaving Appellant’s conviction undisturbed, despite a federal district court’s direction that the State reoffer Appellant an originally un-communicated and favorable plea proposal.Appellant was convicted of aggravated kidnapping and other crimes. Appellant later applied for a writ of habeas corpus in federal district court, arguing that he received ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) because his counsel failed to communicate a plea offer to him. The federal district court granted Appellant’s petition relating to his IAC claim and remanded the case. In accordance with the court’s directions, the State reoffered Appellant an equivalent plea. The district court rejected the reoffered plea agreement because Appellant was unwilling to accept responsibility for his actions at the time the plea offer was made. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court (1) did not abuse its discretion in rejecting the reoffered plea agreement; and (2) did not err by not allowing Appellant to withdraw his guilty plea after it rejected the reoffered plea agreement. View "State v. Rose" on Justia Law