Fox v. Johnson

Petitioner pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life. Petitioner successfully petitioned to withdraw her guilty plea about five years later when she established that the sentencing court failed to inform her that she would receive a mandatory term of lifetime parole as a direct consequence of her plea. At her subsequent trial, petitioner was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, and the special circumstance that the murder was committed in the course of a burglary. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The district court then denied petitioner's 28 U.S.C. 2254 habeas petition and issued a certificate of appealability (COA) on the question of specific performance of her plea agreement. The court assumed without deciding that the State promised petitioner release after seven and a half years and that the State breached that promise. Nevertheless, the court concluded that petitioner is not entitled to specific performance of her plea agreement because she voluntarily chose to withdraw her guilty plea, thereby voiding her plea agreement. There is thus no plea agreement to enforce. Under these circumstances, there is no precedent suggesting that petitioner was denied due process by denying her specific performance. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Fox v. Johnson" on Justia Law