Archive | knowing and voluntary plea

In Pedro Garcia-Hernandez, No. 19-2504 (2d Cir. Dec. 18, 2020)(summary order), the Second Circuit rejected a Rule 11 claim that the guilty plea was not knowingly and voluntarily entered because the district court’s explanation of the sentence the defendant faced was confusing. The district explained at the plea colloquy that the defendant was subject to a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence and that his Guidelines range was 70 to 87 months. Applying plain error review, the Court of Appeals concluded that the district court effectively conveyed to the defendant that 10 years “was the actual and inevitable sentence,” citing United States v. Johnson, 850 F.3d 515, 524 (2d Cir. 2017). The Court relied on the following facts to conclude that there was no basis to believe that a “more precise explanation” of the sentence he faced would have affected the defendant’s decision to plead guilty: when told …