CHAPTER IV (1): PLEA ARRANGEMENTS

155b. A plea arrangement can be made prior to serving of an indictment or at any stage of the trial.

155c.

(a) A prosecutor may enter into a plea arrangement if this accords with the public interest.

(b) In a case involving more than one accused, the prosecutor will ascertain, prior to entering into a plea arrangement, that the agreement offered to the accused with whom the arrangement is being made is not unreasonable or substantially disproportionate in its outcome, when compared with the part of another accused in the same criminal event.

(c) Within a plea arrangement framework, the prosecutor will not promise the accused any of these:

(1) that the prosecution will not bring to the attention of the court the accused's prior criminal record;

(2) that the prosecution will not appeal against lenient punishment, should this be imposed upon the accused by the court.

(d) If the accused is charged with a felony under Sub-Chapters A, D, E, F1 or G to Chapter 10 of the Penal Law, 5737-1977, the prosecutor may afford an opportunity to the direct victim of the crime or to his legal representative (hereafter -- the victim) to provide comments on the plea arrangement contemplated to be offered to the accused; if such comments were given, the prosecutor will take them into account in deciding about the plea arrangement.

155e. The prosecutor will present to the court the grounds for the entering into the plea arrangement and the court will be authorized to seek further explanations from the parties.

155f.

(a) Negotiations toward a plea arrangement with the accused will be conducted through his attorney, unless he has no attorney; if the accused is a minor, no plea arrangement negotiations will be conducted with him if he is not represented, unless an agreement to the negotiations was given by his guardian.

(b) Plea arrangement negotiations will not be conducted before the court, and the court will take no part in such negotiations.

(c) Any plea arrangement with regard to a felony will be made in writing and will be signed by the prosecutor and by the accused, and if the accused has an attorney -- also by the attorney; nonetheless, at the parties request, a plea arrangement may be made orally, and an oral arrangement will be recorded in the court's transcript.

(d) No plea arrangement will be given to the accused for signing or recorded in the court's transcript until the accused's attorney or, if the accused is not represented, the prosecutor had explained the accused the contents of the arrangement and its significance, including the provision of section 155d; the fact that the explanation was given will accordingly be recorded in the plea arrangement or in the transcript.

155g. After submission of a plea arrangement to the court, or after recording its particulars in the transcript, the court will ascertain -- prior to allowing the accused to admit the facts in accordance with the arrangement -- that the accused understood the contents of the arrangement and its significance, including the provision of section 155d.

155h.

(a) A plea arrangement will bind the parties subject to the provisions of this Chapter.

(b) The accused will be entitled to abjure his undertaking under the arrangement and plead not guilty; he will not, however, be allowed to do so after his conviction, unless a permission to do so was granted by the court upon special grounds that will have to be specified by the court.

(c) Prior to the court's decision as to the accused's guilt or innocence, the prosecutor may abjure his undertaking under the arrangement if was ordered to do so by the District Attorney on the grounds of public interest, or, in case the prosecutor is acting under section 12a(2), by the Head of the Prosecutions Unit of the district in which the indictment was brought.

155i. In any proceeding against the accused the following will not be admissible as evidence:
(a) Statements included in a canceled plea arrangement;

(b) Statements exchanged between the prosecution and the accused or his attorney within a framework of plea arrangement negotiations.



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