United States v. Rand Hooks

MEMORANDUM

Alaska state prisoner Rand Hooks (“Hooks”) appeals the district court’s denial of Hooks’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Hooks contends that the government breached the terms of his plea agreement and argues that the district court abused its discretion in denying Hooks’s motion to withdraw his plea after he identified this alleged breach. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm the district court’s denial of the motion.

The government did not breach the terms of the plea agreement by either eliciting testimony from a witness during sentencing proceedings or providing information to the probation officer for use in the presentence report. This testimony and information were provided in direct response to the district court’s desire for clarification regarding Hooks’s role in the conspiracy and were not offered to influence the court to impose a harsher sentence than the probationary term recommended in the plea agreement. See United States v. Mondragon, 228 F.3d 978, 979 (9th Cir.2000).

The existence of a plea agreement does not “ba[r], erod[e] or impai[r]” the government’s obligation to “honestly answe[r] the district court’s questions.”…