People v. Daugherty

By her instant appeal defendant Lesa Daugherty seeks “specific enforcement” of a plea bargain claimed to have been breached by the Santa Clara County District Attorney.

Santa Clara County has separate municipal court facilities in Palo Alto and San Jose. Defendant was charged by complaint with, and was awaiting preliminary examination in the Palo Alto facility on, a charge of grand theft. Upon her arraignment on that charge a plea bargain was announced by her attorney, a deputy public defender, and the deputy district attorney attending that facility of the municipal court. It was memorialized as follows:

The parties disagree as to the interpretation of the foregoing proceedings. The Attorney General argues that the People were thereby permitted to repudiate the plea bargain at will, leaving defendant with only the option of withdrawing her guilty plea. She, on the other hand, insists that the prosecutor was bound in good faith to seek dismissal of all similar charges of grand theft occurring in the county prior to April 3, 1980, the day of the plea bargain.

We consider the plea bargain.

Although not artfully stated, a close reading and analysis of it reveals the…