United States v. Francheska Brizan

A grand jury indicted Francheska Brizan, her husband, and others on charges of conspiring to distribute 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and attempted possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine. After extensive pre-trial proceedings, Brizan entered into a plea agreement with the government. Pursuant to the agreement, she pleaded guilty to an information charging misprision of a felony, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 4 , based on her concealment and failure to notify authorities of her husband’s drug trafficking activities. The plea agreement contained a waiver of Brizan’s right to appeal her conviction or sentence. Represented by new counsel, Brizan later moved to withdraw her plea and dismiss the information as defective. The district court denied the motion, then imposed a below-guideline sentence of four months’ imprisonment followed by one year of supervised release.

Brizan appeals, arguing that the district court should have allowed her to withdraw her plea because the misprision charge violated her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, the information failed to allege an essential element of misprision, and the plea lacked an…