The Court agreed that an assertion of "legal innocence" as well as "factual innocence" can justify withdrawing a plea, but affirmed the district court’s denial of the defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea since “bald assertions of innocence are insufficient,” and James had failed to allege a sufficient basis for an entrapment defense that he could have utilized at trial.
The Court held that it was plain error for the district court to accept the defendant's plea to armed robbery where the factual basis was based on his placing a closed pocket knife on the bank teller's counter while pulling a plastic bag out of his pocket, as this did not constitute "use of a deadly weapon."
United States v. Alicia Norman, et al, No. 17-3070 (D.C.C. June 11, 2019) ISSUES: Criminal Procedure, Pleas, Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, Sentencing Guidelines On an appeal from a bribery and marijuana distribution case, the Court rejected the defendants’ numerous allegations of error except to the extent it held that one of the defendant’s had raised […]
