Michael D. Cicchini has posted What Is a Guilty Plea? on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Nearly all criminal cases resolve by plea bargain. In the typical case, once the parties reach an agreement the defense will complete, sign, and submit a guilty-plea form to the court. But what happens if the prosecutor shows up at the plea hearing, says the deal is off, and refuses to honor the agreement? Plea bargains are governed by constitutional law and contract law. Both lines of authority generally hold that, even when the defendant has accepted the state’s offer and submitted the guilty-plea form to the court, the prosecutor is free to withdraw from the deal any time before the defendant pleads guilty. This raises the critical question: What, exactly, is a guilty plea? Courts simply assume that the defendant does not plead guilty, and therefore cannot enforce the plea deal, until he or she appears in court and says aloud, “I plead guilty,” or words to that effect. However, a close examination of the law governing pleas and convictions reveals that no such in-court utterance is required. This Article argues that a defendant actually pleads guilty, and may therefore enforce the plea bargain against the state, at a much earlier point in time: when the defense submits the signed guilty-plea form to the court. Alternatively, even if that form is not the actual plea, it certainly constitutes the defendant’s start of performance or reliance, both of which would bind the state under contract law.
Recommended!