Corbitt v. New Jersey

439 U.S. 212, 99 S. Ct. 492, 58 L. Ed. 2d 466, 1978 U.S. LEXIS 144

Opinions

Mr. Justice White

delivered the opinion of the Court.

Under the New Jersey homicide statutes,¹ some murders are of the first degree; the rest are of the second degree. Juries rendering guilty murder verdicts are to designate whether the murder was a first- or second-degree crime. The mandatory punishment, to be imposed by the judge, for those convicted by a jury of first-degree murder is life imprisonment;² second-degree murder is punished by a term of not more than 30 years. Trials to the court in murder cases are not permitted, and guilty pleas to murder indictments are forbidden. Pleas of non vult or nolo contendere, however, are allowed. “If such plea be accepted,” the punishment “shall be either imprisonment for life or the same as that imposed upon a conviction of murder in the second degree.”³ The judge entertaining the plea determines that there is a factual basis for conviction but need not decide whether the murder is first or second degree.

Appellant Corbitt, after pleading not guilty to a murder indictment, was convicted of committing murder in the course of an arson — a felony murder and one of the first-degree homicides.⁴ He was sentenced to the mandatory punishment of life imprisonment. His conviction and sentence were affirmed by the New Jersey appellate courts. The New Jersey Supreme Court rejected his contention that because defendants pleading non vult could be sentenced to a lesser term, the mandatory life sentence following a first-degree murder verdict was an unconstitutional burden upon his right to a jury trial under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments and upon his right against compelled self-incrimination under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as a violation of his right to equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment. 74 N. J. 379, 378 A. 2d 235 (1977). We noted probable jurisdiction. 434 U. S. 1060 (1978).

Appellant's principal reliance is upon United States v. Jackson, 390 U. S. 570 (1968). There, this Court held that the death sentence provided by the Federal Kidnaping Act was invalid because it could be imposed only upon the recommendation of a jury accompanying a guilty verdict, whereas the maximum penalty for those tried to the court after waiving a jury and for those pleading guilty was life imprisonment. Only those insisting on a jury trial faced the possibility of a death penalty. These provisions were held to be a needless encouragement to plead guilty or to waive a jury trial, and the death penalty was consequently declared unconstitutional.

We agree with the New Jersey Supreme Court that there are substantial differences between this case and Jackson, and that Jackson does not require a reversal of Corbitt’s conviction. The principal difference is that the pressures to forgo trial and to plead to the charge in this case are not what they were in Jackson. First, the death penalty, which is “unique in its severity and irrevocability,” Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U. S. 153, 187 (1976), is not involved here. Although we need not agree with the New Jersey court that the Jackson rationale is limited to those cases where a plea avoids any possibility of the death penalty’s being imposed, it is a material fact that under the New Jersey law the maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment, not death. Furthermore, in Jackson, any risk of suffering the maximum penalty could be avoided by pleading guilty. Here, although the punishment when a jury finds a defendant guilty of first-degree murder is life imprisonment,⁵ the risk of that punishment is not completely avoided by pleading non vult because the judge accepting the plea has the authority to impose a life term. New Jersey does not reserve the maximum punishment for murder for those who insist on a jury trial.

It is nevertheless true that while life imprisonment is the mandatory punishment for a defendant against whom a jury has returned a first-degree murder verdict, a judge accepting a non vult plea does not classify the murder⁶ and may impose either life imprisonment or a term of up to 30 years. The defendant who wishes to avoid the certainty of life imprisonment if he is tried and found guilty by the jury of first-degree murder, may seek to do so by tendering a non vult plea. Although there is no assurance that he will be so favored, the judge does have the power to accept the plea and to sentence him to a lesser term.⁷ It is Corbitt’s submission that the possibility of a sentence of less than life upon the plea of non vult, combined with the absence of a similar possibility when found guilty by a jury, is an unconstitutional burden on his federal rights under the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments.

As did the New Jersey Supreme Court, we disagree. The cases in this Court since Jackson have clearly established that not every burden on the exercise of a constitutional right, and not every pressure or encouragement to waive such a right, is invalid.⁸ Specifically, there is no per se rule against encouraging guilty pleas. We have squarely held that a State may encourage a guilty plea by offering substantial benefits in return for the plea.⁹ The plea may obtain for the defendant “the possibility or certainty . . . [not only of] a lesser penalty than the sentence that could be imposed after a trial and a verdict of guilty . . . Brady v. United States, 397 U. S. 742, 751 (1970), but also of a lesser penalty than that required to be imposed after a guilty verdict by a jury. In Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U. S. 357 (1978), the defendant went to trial on an indictment charging him as a habitual criminal, for which the mandatory punishment was life imprisonment. The prosecutor, however, had been willing to accept a plea of guilty to a lesser charge carrying a shorter sentence. The defendant chose to go to trial, was convicted, and was sentenced to life. We affirmed the conviction, holding that the State, through the prosecutor, had not violated the Constitution since it “no more than openly presented the defendant with the unpleasant alternatives of forgoing trial or facing charges on which he was plainly subject to prosecution.” Id., at 365. Relying upon and quoting from Chaffin v. Stynchcombe, 412 U. S. 17 (1973), we also said:

“While confronting a defendant with the risk of more severe punishment clearly may have a ‘discouraging effect on the defendant’s assertion of his trial rights, the imposition of these difficult choices [is] an inevitable’ — and permissible — ‘attribute of any legitimate system which tolerates and encourages the negotiation of pleas.’ Chaffin v. Stynchcombe, supra, at 31. It follows that, by tolerating and encouraging the negotiation of pleas, this Court has necessarily accepted as constitutionally legitimate the simple reality that the prosecutor’s interest at the bargaining table is to persuade the defendant to forgo his right to plead not guilty.” 434 U. S., at 364.

There is no difference of constitutional significance between Bordenkircher and this case.¹⁰ There, as here, the defendant went to trial on an indictment that included a count carrying a mandatory life term under the applicable state statutes. There, as here, the defendant could have sought to counter the mandatory penalty by tendering a plea. In Bordenkircher, as permitted by state law, the prosecutor was willing to forgo the habitual criminal count if there was a plea, in which event the mandatory sentence would have been avoided. Here, the state law empowered the judge to impose a lesser term either in connection with a plea bargain or otherwise. In both cases, the defendant gave up the possibility of leniency if he went to trial and was convicted on the count carrying the mandatory penalty. In Bordenkircher, the probability or certainty of leniency in return for a plea did not invalidate the mandatory penalty imposed after a jury trial. It should not do so here, where there was no assurance that a plea would be accepted if tendered and, if it had been, no assurance that a sentence less than life would be imposed. Those matters rested ultimately in the discretion of the judge, perhaps substantially influenced by the prosecutor and the plea-bargaining process permitted by New Jersey law.¹¹

Bordenkircher, like other cases here, unequivocally recognized the State’s legitimate interest in encouraging the entry of guilty pleas and in facilitating plea bargaining, a process mutually beneficial to both the defendant and the State.¹² In pursuit of this interest, New Jersey has provided that the judge may, but need not, accept pleas of non vult and that he may impose life or the specified term of years. This not only provides for discretion in the trial judge but also sets the limits within which plea bargaining on punishment may take place. The New Jersey Supreme Court observed that the “encouragement of guilty defendants not to contest their guilt is at the very heart of an effective plea negotiation program.” 74 N. J., at 396, 378 A. 2d, at 243-244. Its conclusion was that in this light there were substantial benefits to the State in providing the opportunity for lesser punishment and that the statutory pattern could not be deemed a needless or arbitrary burden on the defendant’s constitutional rights within the meaning of United States v. Jackson.

We are in essential agreement with the New Jersey Supreme Court. Had Corbitt tendered a plea and had it been accepted and a term of years less than life imposed, this would simply have recognized the fact that there had been a plea and that in sentencing it is constitutionally permissible to take that fact into account. The States and the Federal Government are free to abolish guilty pleas and plea bargaining; but absent such action, as the Constitution has been construed in our cases, it is not forbidden to extend a proper degree of leniency in return for guilty pleas. New Jersey has done no more than that.

We discern no element of retaliation or vindictiveness against Corbitt for going to trial. There is no suggestion that he was subjected to unwarranted charges. Nor does this record indicate that he was being punished for exercising a constitutional right.¹³ Indeed, insofar as this record reveals, Corbitt may have tendered a plea and it was refused. There is no doubt that those homicide defendants who are willing to plead non vult may be treated more leniently than those who go to trial, but withholding the possibility of leniency from the latter cannot be equated with impermissible punishment as long as our cases sustaining plea bargaining remain undisturbed. Those cases, as we have said, unequivocally recognize the constitutional propriety of extending leniency in exchange for a plea of guilty and of not extending leniency to those who have not demonstrated those attributes on which leniency is based.¹⁴

Finally, we are unconvinced that the New Jersey statutory pattern exerts such a powerful influence to coerce inaccurate pleas non vult that it should be deemed constitutionally suspect. There is no suggestion here that Corbitt was not well counseled or that he misunderstood the choices that were placed before him. Here, as in Bordenkircher, the State did not trespass on the defendant’s rights “so long as the accused [was] free to accept or reject” the choice presented to him by the State, 434 U. S., at 363, that is, to go to trial and face the risk of life imprisonment or to seek acceptance of a non vult plea and the imposition of the lesser penalty authorized by law.¹⁵

Appellant also argues that the sentencing scheme infringes his right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment because it penalizes the exercise of a “fundamental right.” We rejected a similar argument in North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U. S. 711 (1969), noting that “[t]o fit the problem . . . into an equal protection framework is a task too Procrustean to be rationally accomplished.” Id., at 723. All New Jersey defendants are given the same choice. Those electing to contest their guilt face a certainty of life imprisonment if convicted of first-degree murder; but they may be acquitted instead or, in a proper case, may be convicted of a lesser degree of homicide and receive a sentence of less than life. Furthermore, a plea of non vult may itself result in a life sentence. The result, therefore,

“may depend upon a particular combination of infinite variables peculiar to each individual trial. It simply cannot be said that a state has invidiously 'classified' . . .

Id., at 722.

It cannot be said that defendants found guilty by a jury are "penalized” for exercising the right to a jury trial any more than defendants who plead guilty are penalized because they give up the chance of acquittal at trial. In each instance, the defendant faces a multitude of possible outcomes and freely makes his choice. Equal protection does not free those who made a bad assessment of risks or a bad choice from the consequences of their decision. The judgment of the Supreme Court of New Jersey is affirmed.

It is so ordered.

1 The relevant statutes are N. J. Stat. Ann. §§2A:113-1 to 2A:113-4 (West 1969 and Supp. 1978-1979):

“2A: 113-1. Murder

“If any person, in committing or attempting to commit arson, burglary, kidnapping, rape, robbery, sodomy or any unlawful act against the peace of this state, of which the probable consequences may be bloodshed, kills another, or if the death of anyone ensues from the committing or attempting to commit any such crime or act; or if any person kills a judge, magistrate, sheriff, constable or other officer of justice, either civil or criminal, of this State, or a marshal or other officer of justice, either civil or criminal, of the United States, in the execution of his office or duty, or kills any of his assistants, whether specially called to his aid or not, endeavoring to preserve the peace or apprehend a criminal, knowing the authority of such assistant, or kills a private person endeavoring to suppress an affray, or to apprehend a criminal, knowing the intention with which such private person interposes, then such person so killing is guilty of murder.

“2A: 113-2. Degrees of murder; designation in verdict

“Murder which is perpetrated by means of poison, or by lying in wait, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing, or which is committed in perpetrating or attempting to perpetrate arson, burglary, kidnapping, rape, robbery or sodomy, or which is perpetrated in the course or for the purpose of resisting, avoiding or preventing a lawful arrest, or of effecting or assisting an escape or rescue from legal custody, or murder of a police or other law enforcement officer acting in the execution of his duty or of a person assisting any such officer so acting, is murder in the first degree. Any other kind of murder is murder in the secon,d degree. A jury finding a person guilty of murder shall designate by their verdict whether it be murder in the first degree or in the second degree.”

“2A: 113-3. Murder; plea of guilty not to be received; plea of non vult or nolo contendere and sentence thereon

“In no case shall the plea of guilty be received upon any indictment for murder, and if, upon arraignment, such plea is offered, it shall be disregarded, and the plea of not guilty entered, and a jury, duly impaneled, shall try the case.

“Nothing herein contained shall prevent the accused from pleading non vult or nolo contendere to the indictment; the sentence to be imposed, if such plea be accepted, shall be either imprisonment for life or the same as that imposed upon a conviction of murder in the second degree.

“2A: 113-4. Murder; punishment

“Every person convicted of murder in the first degree, [his] aiders, abettors, counselors and procurers, shall suffer death unless the jury shall by its verdict, and as a part thereof, upon and after the consideration of all the evidence, recommend life imprisonment, in which case this and no greater punishment shall be imposed.

“Every person convicted of murder in the second degree shall suffer imprisonment for not more than 30 years.”

Manslaughter is separately defined in §2A: 113-5 (West 1969).

2 The provision for the death penalty in §2A: 113-4 was invalidated in Funicello v. New Jersey, 403 U. S. 948 (1971). On remand, the New Jersey Supreme Court held the death penalty provision severable from the statute and ruled that life imprisonment was to be imposed upon all defendants convicted by a jury of first-degree murder, State v. Funicello, 60 N. J. 60, 286 A. 2d 55, cert. denied sub nom. New Jersey v. Presha, 408 U. S. 942 (1972).

3 N. J. Stat. Ann. § 2A: 113-3 (West 1969). As the statute suggests, the trial judge has complete discretion to refuse to accept the plea. See State v. Sullivan, 43 N. J. 209, 246, 203 A. 2d 117, 196 (1964). He may not, however, accept a plea if the defendant maintains his innocence, stands mute, or refuses to admit facts that establish guilt. State v. Reali, 26 N. J. 222, 139 A. 2d 300 (1958); State v. Sands, 138 N. J. Super. 103, 109-112, 350 A. 2d 274, 277-279 (App. Div. 1975); State v. Rhein, 117 N. J. Super. 112, 283 A. 2d 759 (App. Div. 1971).

4 Corbitt was indicted on two counts of arson and one count of murder. The State presented its case on a felony-murder basis. He was found guilty on one count of arson and on the murder count. Sentences of life imprisonment for felony murder and a concurrent term for arson were imposed. Because the arson conviction was deemed merged into the murder conviction, the separate sentence for arson was set aside on appeal.

5 New Jersey Stat. Ann. § 2A: 113-2 (West 1969) directs a jury finding a defendant guilty of murder to “designate by their verdict whether it be murder in the first degree or in the second degree.” It thus appears that in appropriate cases the jury would be instructed on both first- and second-degree murder. In this ease, however, the State proceeded on a felony-murder basis; the judge considered it to be a first-degree felony-murder case; and there were no instructions on second-degree murder or manslaughter. As far as the record before us reveals, Corbitt did not request or object to the absence of instructions on lesser crimes.

6 Under New Jersey law, the plea is to be directed to the indictment, which may charge murder generally. The trial court accepting a plea does not hold a hearing for the purpose of determining the degree of guilt or make any such determination. State v. Williams, 39 N. J. 471, 479, 189 A. 2d 193, 197 (1963); State v. Walker, 33 N. J. 580, 588-589, 166 A. 2d 567, 571-572 (1960).

7 If the plea is accepted, the sentencing judge would appear to have discretion not only to impose up to 30 years on facts that might have warranted a first-degree murder verdict by a jury but also to impose a life term where the facts indicate a second-degree murder verdict.

8 For example, in Crampton v. Ohio, decided with McGautha v. California, 402 U. S. 183 (1971), we upheld Ohio’s procedure whereby the jury determines both guilt and punishment in a single trial and in a single verdict. Crampton argued that the unitary procedure impaired his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination because he could remain silent on the issue of guilt only at the cost of surrendering any chance to plead his case on the issue of punishment. As we stated there, in rejecting his argument:

“The criminal process, like the rest of the legal system, is replete with situations requiring 'the making of difficult judgments’ as to which course to follow. McMann v. Richardson, 397 U. S., at 769. Although a defendant may have a right, even of constitutional dimensions, to follow whichever course he chooses, the Constitution does not by that token always forbid requiring him to choose.” Id., at 213.

See also Brady v. United States, 397 U. S. 742, 750 (1970).

In United States v. Nobles, 422 U. S. 225 (1975), we held that a District Court could condition the admissibility of impeachment testimony by a defense witness upon production of an investigative report prepared by the witness, rejecting Nobles’ contention that to do so would violate his Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process and cross-examination.

9 The Court intimated as much in Jackson itself: “[T]he evil in the federal statute is not that it necessarily coerces guilty pleas and jury waivers but simply that it needlessly encourages them.” 390 U. S., at 583. Decisions after Jackson sustained practices that, although encouraging guilty pleas, were not “needless.” In the first of these cases, Brady v. United States, supra, the petitioner had pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment after being indicted under the same statute, the Federal Kidnaping Act, at issue in Jackson. Brady claimed that his guilty plea had been involuntary, relying on our holding in Jackson that the death penalty provision of the Federal Kidnaping Act served to encourage guilty pleas needlessly. In effect, Brady argued that Jackson required the invalidation of every guilty plea entered under the Federal Kidnaping Act prior to Jackson. We concluded that he had “read 'far too much into the Jackson opinion.” 397 U. S., at 746. Jackson had in no way altered the test of Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U. S. 238, 242 (1969), that guilty pleas are valid if knowing, voluntary, and intelligent.

Subsequent decisions reaffirmed the permissibility of plea bargaining even though “every such circumstance has a discouraging effect on the defendant’s assertion of his trial rights,” because the “imposition of these difficult choices [is the] inevitable attribute of any legitimate system which tolerates and encourages the negotiation of pleas.” Chaffin v. Stynchcombe, 412 U. S. 17, 31 (1973). See McMann v. Richardson, 397 U. S. 759 (1970); Parker v. North Carolina, 397 U. S. 790 (1970); North Carolina v. Alford, 400 U. S. 25 (1970); Santobello v. New York, 404 U. S. 257 (1971); Bordenkircher v. Hayes, 434 U. S. 357 (1978).

In Ludwig v. Massachusetts, 427 U. S. 618 (1976), the appellant challenged the Massachusetts system for disposition of certain state crimes in which the defendant is first tried without a jury. If convicted, he may appeal and obtain a jury trial de novo. Although the range of penalties was the same at each tier, Ludwig suffered a harsher sentence when he appealed and was found guilty by a jury. Recognizing the interest of the State in efficient criminal procedure, we rejected a claim based on Jackson that the system discouraged the assertion of the right to a jury trial by imposing harsher sentences upon those that exercised that right. 427 ü. S., at 627-628, n. 4.

10 In Bordenkircher, the original indictment did not include the habitual criminal count, which was added when the defendant was reindicted following his refusal to plead. This escalation of the charges after the failure of plea bargaining, which to the dissenters in this Court demonstrated impermissible vindictiveness, is not present here; and we need not rely on this aspect of the Bordenkircher decision. The rationale of that case would a fortiori govern a case where the original indictment contains a habitual criminal count and conviction on that count follows the defendant’s decision not to plead to a lesser charge.

11 New Jersey expressly authorizes plea bargaining. N. J. Court Rule 3:9-3 (a). Any agreement reached is “placed on the record in open court at the time the plea is entered.” Rule 3:9-3 (b). The New Jersey Rules also permit disclosure of the tentative agreement to the judge to secure advance approval. Rule 3:9-3 (c). In any event, if the judge “determines that the interest of justice would not be served by effectuating the agreement,” he must permit the defendant to withdraw the plea. Rule 3:9-3 (e).

12 The Court has several times recognized the benefits of plea bargaining to the defendant as well as to the State. In Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U. S. 63, 71 (1977), we said:

“Whatever might be the situation in an ideal world, the fact is that the guilty plea and the often concomitant plea bargain are important components of this country’s criminal justice system. Properly administered, they can benefit all concerned. The defendant avoids extended pretrial incarceration and the anxieties and uncertainties of a trial; he gains a speedy disposition of his case, the chance to acknowledge his guilt, and a prompt start in realizing whatever potential there may be for rehabilitation. Judges and prosecutors conserve vital and scarce resources. The public is protected from the risks posed by those charged with criminal offenses who are at large on bail while awaiting completion of criminal proceedings.” (Footnote omitted.)

See also Santobello v. New York, supra, at 260-261; Brady v. United States, 397 U. S., at 751-752. There is thus much more to be derived from plea bargaining than simply conserving scarce prosecutorial resources, and those benefits accrue equally where the plea bargaining occurs within a statutory framework.

13 The dissent’s suggestion, post, at 229-230, that New Jersey concedes that its statutes have both the purpose and effect of penalizing the assertion of the right not to plead guilty is untenable, see Brief for Appellee 28-31, and seems inconsistent with the later description of the State’s position, post, at 230.

14 The dissent appears to question any system that subjects the defendant who stands trial to a substantial risk of greater punishment than the defendant who pleads guilty. But in the next breath, the dissent appears to embrace plea bargaining, although the plea-bargaining systems operating in a majority of the jurisdictions throughout the country inherently extend to defendants who plead guilty the probability or the certainty of leniency that will not be available if they go to trial.

The dissent asserts that the attack here is on the statutory scheme rather than upon the system of plea bargaining, which is said to individualize defendants and does not mandate a different standard of punishment depending solely on whether or not a plea is entered. The distinction is without substance for the purposes of this case. In the first place, plea bargaining by state prosecutors operates by virtue of state law, here by virtue, of the formal rules of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. That system permits a proper amount of leniency in return for pleas, leniency that is denied if one goes to trial. In this sense, the standard of punishment is necessarily different for those who plead and for those who go to trial. For those who plead, that fact itself is a consideration in sentencing, a consideration that is not present when one is found guilty by a jury. Second, under the New Jersey statutes, pleas may be rejected even if tendered; there must, for example, be a factual basis for the plea. Even if a plea is accepted, there is discretion to impose life imprisonment. The statute leaves much to the judge and to the prosecutor and does not mandate lesser punishment for those pleading non vult than is imposed on those who go to trial. It is also true that under normal circumstances, juries in New Jersey may find a defendant guilty of second-degree murder rather than first.

Third, we cannot hold that a prosecutor may charge a person with a crime carrying a mandatory punishment and secure a valid conviction, despite his power to offer leniency to those who plead — including dismissal of the mandatory count in return for a plea — and yet hold that the legislature may not openly provide for the possibility of leniency in return for a plea. This is particularly true where it is contemplated that plea bargaining will in any event go forward within the limits set by the legislature.

15 We do not suggest that every conceivable statutory sentencing structure, plea-bargaining system, or particular plea bargain would be constitutional. We hold only that a State may make due allowance for pleas in its sentencing decisions and that New Jersey has not exceeded its powers in this respect by its statutory provision extending the possibility of leniency to those who plead non vult in homicide cases.