Opinion
09 CR 593.
January 8, 2009
MEMORANDUM
During the previously-set January 6, 2010 status hearing this matter, counsel for defendant Marki Alsup ("Alsup") stated that Alsup contemplated changing his previously-entered not guilty plea to a plea of guilty — a "blind plea" involving no negotiated agreement with the government. This Court apprised defense counsel and government counsel of its view that because the excludability of time for Speedy Trial Act purposes under 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(1)(G) required "consideration by the court of a proposed plea agreement to be entered into by the defendant and the attorney for the Government," that necessitated this Court's receipt of at least a draft of a potential agreement — that is, a contemplated two-party undertaking.
On January 7 defense counsel tendered a letter on behalf of Alsup outlining the terms on which the latter "currently intends to plead guilty to the charges in the indictment" on the date that had been set by this Court at the status hearing, February 12, 2010. No criticism of defense counsel's meticulous treatment is intended here, but this Court does not view that submission as conforming to the "agreement" called for by the statute. Accordingly this Court would expect government counsel to submit, at a minimum, a statement in which the government agrees to defendant's proposal to change his plea, while reserving the right to challenge such provisions of defendant's proposal as it may indicate (that might well include, for example, defense counsel's fourth bullet point).
As and when this Court receives such a submission from government counsel, it is prepared to enter a finding excluding time from that date through February 12. If either side entertains any objection to what is set out in this memorandum, however, this Court expects such objection to be tendered promptly.