Translate
Text Highlighter

Bookmark

PDF

Share

Report a problem
AMICUS AI
Citation Codes
Equivalent Citations
citation codes
Docket Number
Attorney(S)
Judges
Are you a practicing lawyer?
Enhance your digital presence and reach by creating a Casemine profile.
Upload pleading to use the new AI search
Cites
Cited by
Citation Codes
Equivalent Citations
citation codes
Docket Number
Attorney(S)
Judges

EUGENIO LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ, PETITIONER-APPELLANT, v. STATE OF NEW MEXICO, RESPONDENT-APPELLEE.

PER CURIAM.

Petitioner-appellant Eugenio Lopez Rodriguez appeals from the district court's denial of his request for an evidentiary hearing and subsequent dismissal of his habeas corpus petition, 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Our jurisdiction arises under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 2253, and we affirm.

In an attempt to collaterally attack the presumptive voluntariness of his plea, see Blackledge v. Allison, 431 U.S. 63, 74, 97 S.Ct. 1621, 1629, 52 L.Ed.2d 136 (1977), Mr. Lopez asserts by affidavit that the government breached a promise, undisclosed on the record of the plea proceedings, of an unsupervised conjugal visit. Although promises made by prosecuting attorneys "must be fulfilled to maintain the integrity of the plea," United States v. Hand, 913 F.2d 854, 856 (10th Cir. 1990) (citing Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262, 92 S.Ct. 495, 499, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971)), only breaches of material promises will allow a court to conclude that a plea was involuntarily induced and thus constitutionally infirm. United States v. Pollard, 959 F.2d 1011, 1028 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 113 S.Ct. 322, 121 L.Ed.2d 242 (1992). As in contract, the terms of a plea agreement and their relative materiality are evaluated by an objective standard. See McKenzie v. Risley, 801 F.2d 1519, 1526-27 (9th Cir. 1986), vacated in part on other grounds, 842 F.2d 1525 (9th Cir. 1988) (en banc). In light of the significant benefits Mr. Lopez did receive as a result of his plea agreement, including the avoidance of a possible death sentence, the alleged breach of a promise of a conjugal visit did not deprive the agreement of its voluntary character. Because Mr. Lopez has failed to "allege facts which, if proven, would entitle him to relief," Townsend v. Sain, 372 U.S. 293, 312, 83 S.Ct. 745, 757, 9 L.Ed.2d 770 (1963), the district court did not err in denying his request for an evidentiary hearing and dismissing the petition.

AFFIRMED.

Use AI to get other relevant cases.

Comments

RODRIGUEZ v. STATE OF N.M
(Dec 27, 1993)