Opinion of the Court — United States v. Harris

This writing

Type: Opinion of the Court
Author: Theodore Alexander McKee
Filed: May 3, 2002
Case: United States v. Harris
Case status: Decided

Opening text

The first passage of the document, as extracted by the source provider.

OPINION OF THE COURT MCKEE, Circuit Judge. Ronald Harris and Howard Gordon were charged with a variety of federal offenses stemming from two armed robberies of beverage truck drivers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Harris pled guilty and agreed to provide “substantial assistance” in exchange for the government’s promise to move for a downward departure at sentencing pursuant to U.S.S.G. 5k1.1. However, at sentencing, the government refused to make that motion because of Harris’ purported failure to fully cooperate. Harris responded by moving to enforce the plea agreement or, in the alternative, to withdraw his guilty plea. The district court denied both motions and this appeal followed. For the reasons that follow, we will affirm. I Inasmuch as we write only for the district court and the parties who are familiar with the circumstances underlying the instant appeal, we need not recite the factual or procedural background of this dispute at any length. A. Harris makes several arguments in support of his attempt to have the plea agreement enforced or the plea withdrawn. First, he alleges that the government acted in bad faith in refusing to move for a downward departure under 5K1.1. M…

Source Extract supplied by CourtListener. Benchlight does not host the document — read the authoritative text in the court's own PDF.