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Friday, August 15, 2008

Ind. Decisions - "High court ponders semantics of plea deal in Steuben sex crime"

The oral argument Thursday (see earlier ILB entry here) before the Supreme Court in the case of Bruce Wayne St. Clair, Jr. v. State is the subject of a story today by Niki Kelly in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

Indiana’s five Supreme Court justices spent the morning Thursday getting back to basics as they heard a Steuben County case that hinges on the definition of the word “recommend.”

Bruce Wayne St. Clair Jr., 21, of Angola, is trying to appeal his sentence in a case of sexual misconduct with a minor. His attorney, Kimberly Jackson, said St. Clair was an 18-year-old special education student when he had sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend of more than a year.

According to a plea agreement in the case, the state agreed to dismiss a higher-class felony and “recommend” a sentence of three years with all but 180 days suspended and 2 1/2 years on probation.

A trial judge found that his plea agreement was “fixed” – or that the both sides had agreed on a specific sentence – and denied St. Clair’s appeal. But the Indiana Court of Appeals said the plea agreement involved only a recommendation and the judge had the discretion to sentence St. Clair to more or less time.

“The words in a contract are to be given the ordinary legal significance,” Jackson argued. “Recommend refers to an action that is advising in action, rather than one having a binding effect.”

Ian McLean, the attorney arguing for the attorney general’s office, contended that the plea was not “open” and that both sides had agreed to a specific sentence. He noted as well that a colloquy between the judge and the defense counsel made clear that St. Clair knew what the exact conditions of the plea were.

“It’s a term of art,” McLean said of the word “recommend” while also noting that he personally would have preferred the document clearly state that the sides agreed on a sentence.

At times the justices smiled and even snickered a bit as they tried to ferret out an acceptable ending to a case complicated by a poorly drafted plea agreement form.

Jackson even said Steuben County prosecutors have since changed the form to remove the word recommend.

“You think it’s ironclad clear that recommend means agree?” Justice Frank Sullivan Jr. asked.

Justice Theodore Boehm followed up by asking, “Isn’t it a much better legal universe if we declare that ‘recommend’ means recommend and ‘agree’ means agree?”

Watch the oral argument here.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 15, 2008 09:30 AM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions