United States v. De Leon

After defendant signed a plea agreement pleading guilty of receipt of child pornography, he claimed that he lacked the requisite mens rea, the government entrapped him, and the factual basis of the plea was inaccurate. However, at the pretrial conference, defendant again pleaded guilty under the original plea agreement. In this appeal, defendant argued that the district court committed plain error by restricting his right to withdraw the guilty plea and by involving itself in plea negotiations.The court held that the district court did not err, plain or otherwise, where defendant never formally requested to withdraw his plea but, instead, continued to waver before ultimately deciding to persist in his original guilty plea. The court rejected defendant's claim that the district court improperly conditioned the withdrawal of the plea on his decision to pursue an affirmative defense. The court also held that the judge's stray comments did not amount to a Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(d)(1) violation, and the district court did not improperly participate in plea discussions in violation of Rule 11(c)(1). Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's judgment. View "United States v. De Leon" on Justia Law