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United States v. Buonocore,
No. 03-4201 (10th Cir., July 18, 2005) (Published): Very interesting case where the District Court expressed a general policy against accepting Alford/nolo pleas and rejected the plea in this case as such. The Circuit held that such a general policy was not an abuse of discretion and was permissible. Also, the Circuit found no plain error under Booker in sentencing.
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Maxwell v. State,
2006 OK CR 33 (Okl.Cr., August 8, 2006): Guilty Pleas; Alford/Nolo Pleas: Maxwell entered an Alford plea in Garfield County to a charge of Maintaining a House of Prostitution w/in 1,000 Feet of a Church. The next step is unusual. Maxwell filed a Motion to Withdraw his plea, but requested that the trial court deny the Motion so he could appeal the matter and allege a constitutional challenge before the Court of Criminal Appeals. The State made no objection to this procedure and the trial court apparently did as Maxwell requested. The Good News: a certiorari appeal through an Alford plea is an appropriate way to raise a constitutional challenge to a statute, and thus indirectly to the sentence (a bench trial on stipulated facts is another way). The Bad News: the constitutional challenge (that the statute gives special treatment to churches and thus violates the First Amendment's "establishment" clause) is rejected.
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