Benvin v. USDC NVR

Petitioner, charged in a fifty-count indictment, petitioned for a writ of mandamus, seeking an order directing the district court not to condition its acceptance of the parties’ plea agreement on the government’s obtaining consent from alleged victims before dismissing the remaining counts and seeking an order that would prevent the district court from conditioning the United States Attorney’s dismissal of the remaining counts in the indictment on a showing that the government would struggle to prove petitioner’s guilt on those counts, as well as seeking reassignment to a different district judge to preserve the appearance of justice. The court concluded that the district court erred by adding a particular term to the plea agreement and inserting itself into the parties' plea discussions and concluded that the Bauman v. United States District Court factors weigh in favor of granting mandamus relief. In this case, the court concluded that the appearance of justice will best be served by reassignment to a different judge. Accordingly, the court granted the petition and ordered that the case be reassigned to another district judge. View "Benvin v. USDC NVR" on Justia Law