Schade v. State

2002 WY 133, 53 P.3d 551, 2002 Wyo. LEXIS 145, 2002 WL 31000089
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 6, 2002
Docket01-52
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 2002 WY 133 (Schade v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schade v. State, 2002 WY 133, 53 P.3d 551, 2002 Wyo. LEXIS 145, 2002 WL 31000089 (Wyo. 2002).

Opinion

KITE, Justice.

[¶ 1] Sidney Schade pleaded guilty to two counts of immoral or indecent acts with a minor pursuant to a plea agreement by which the state agreed to recommend probation and Mr. Schade agreed to obtain a sex offender evaluation. Several months after his release on bond pending sentencing, Mr. Schade violated a bond condition which prohibited contact with the victims. The state petitioned to revoke his bond, and Mr. Schade was arrested. Mr. Schade and the state entered into a second plea agreement which provided the state would continue to recommend probation on the condition Mr. Schade was accepted into a community alternative placement program such as the Intensive Supervision Program (ISP). Sentencing was delayed while Mr. Schade unsuccessfully attempted to gain entrance into a variety of such programs. He was ultimately sentenced to two consecutive terms of three to five years of imprisonment. Mr. Schade appeals contending the state violated the first plea agreement and the district court failed to advise him he would be unable to withdraw his guilty plea. Finding no error, we affirm.

ISSUES

[¶2] Mr. Schade presents these issues for our review:

ISSUE I
Whether Mr. Schade's sentence is an illegal sentence because the interim probationary terms were illegal?
ISSUE II
Whether the state breached the plea agreement when it interfered with Mr. Schade's ability to complete the terms of the interim probation?
ISSUE III
Whether Mr. Schade should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea because the court did not properly follow Rule 11, W.R.Cr.P., when it failed to properly advise Mr. Schade?
ISSUE IV
Whether Mr. Schade was denied due process when the court failed to sentence him within one year of adjudication of guilt?

The state phrases the issues as:

I. Did the state breach the plea agreement?
II. Did the district court fail to comply with the mandates of Rule 11 of the Wyoming Rules of Criminal Procedure in accepting Appellant's pleas?
III Did the district court abuse its discretion in imposing sentence?

FACTS

[¶3] Between May 1, 1999, and August 8, 1999, Mr. Schade inappropriately touched the victims, both age fourteen, on separate occasions. He was charged with one count of third-degree sexual assault under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-304(a)(if) (LexisNexis 2001), two counts of immoral or indecent acts with a minor under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 14-3-105(a) (LexisNexis 2001), and two counts of causing or encouraging a child to commit with him any immoral or indecent act under § 14-3-105(a). On December 29, 1999, at his arraignment, Mr. Schade pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent or immoral acts with a minor. In exchange for his guilty pleas, the state agreed to dismiss the remaining three charges and recommend probation. Pursuant to both his bond conditions and this first plea agreement, Mr. Schade was prohibited from contacting his victims. The first plea agreement also required that he complete a sex offender evaluation prior to sentencing.

[T4] On February 16, 2000, the state petitioned to revoke his bond because Mr. Schade had contact with one of the victims, and the district court thereafter issued a bench warrant for his arrest. On May 12, 2000, Mr. Schade appeared before the district court for sentencing and acknowledged that a sex offender evaluation had not been *554 completed. The parties reached a second agreement wherein the state would continue to recommend probation provided Mr. Schade was accepted in the ISP or a comparable program to ensure that (1) he had no further contact with the victims and (2) he enrolled in a sex offender treatment program. Although Mr. Schade was given approximately six months of continuances for his sentencing hearing to pursue admission into an ISP -type program, he was not accepted in any program. His inability to enroll in an acceptable program, coupled with his previous failure to abide by the terms of his bond release and plea agreement, caused the state to argue against probation at the sentencing hearing and to urge the court to impose consecutive imprisonment terms of four to six years. Concluding probation was not appropriate, on January 12, 2001, the district court sentenced Mr. Schade to serve consecutive imprisonment terms of not less than three years nor more than five years with credit against the minimum and maximum for time served while awaiting disposition. Mr. Schade now appeals his judgment and sentence.

DISCUSSION

A. Plea Agreement

[15] Mr. Schade contends the state breached the first plea agreement when it interfered with his ability to comply with its terms by incarcerating him and preventing him from being able to obtain the sex offender evaluation. Our standard concerning a plea agreement breach is as follows:

[WJhether the government has breached a plea agreement is reviewed de novo. In determining whether a breach has occurred, we: (1) examine the nature of the promise; and (2) evaluate the promise in light of the defendant's reasonable understanding of the promise at the time the plea was entered. " Principles of general contract law guide our analysis of the government's obligations under the agreement" Clingman [v. State], 2001 WY 46, ¶ 20, 23 P.3d [27,] 31 [ (Wyo.2001)] (quoting [United States v.] Peterson, 225 F.3d [1167,] 1170-71 [ (10th Cir.2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1131, 121 S.Ct. 893, 148 L.Ed.2d 799 (2001) ]). It follows that, "as in contract," a party should not be released from its obligations under a plea agreement absent another party's material or substantial breach of that agreement. A material or substantial breach is one that goes to the whole consideration of the agreement. Several factors are relevant to whether a breach is material or substantial, including the extent to which the non-breaching party will be deprived of the benefit it reasonably expected and the extent to which the breaching party's conduct comports with the standards of good faith and fair dealing.

Browning v. State, 2001 WY 98, ¶ 32, 32 P.3d 1061, ¶ 32 (Wyo.2001) (some citations omitted).

[¶6] Mr. Schade asserts general principles of contract law prohibit a party's interference with another party's ability to perform its contract obligations. In this instance, he argues the prosecution's actions in revoking his bond made it impossible for him to fulfill a requirement of the first plea agreement that he obtain a sex offender evaluation. He asserts the state should not be permitted to rely on his nonperformance to revoke the plea agreement when the state's actions directly caused his nonperformance. However, the plea agreement was revoked because he contacted a victim. In addition, Mr. Schade had almost three months from the entry of his pleas on December 29, 1999, to the date of his arrest on March 22, 2000, for violation of his bond condition in which to complete the sex offender evaluation, and he failed to do so.

[¶7] Furthermore, Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
2002 WY 133, 53 P.3d 551, 2002 Wyo. LEXIS 145, 2002 WL 31000089, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schade-v-state-wyo-2002.