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Defendant Failed to Show that Court's Error at Plea Hearing Affected Substantial Rights

By Shari Allison

US v. Ferrel, -- F.3d --, 2010 WL 1172596 (10th Cir. 3/29/10) - The Tenth Circuit affirms the defendant's conviction and sentence in a possession with intent to distribute meth and cocaine case. The district court erred when accepting the defendant's guilty plea by failing to inform defendant of the drug quantity element of the offense and by misinforming him of the statutory maximum sentence. The district court stated at the plea hearing that the elements were listed in the plea agreement, which actually did not mention the meth quantity involved. Since there was no objection, the plain error standard applies. There was no showing that the error affected substantial rights, i.e., that Mr. Ferrel would not have pleaded guilty and would have exercised right to trial if properly informed...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on March 30, 2010 (boomark / email).