7.10Plea Agreements — Court Rule Requirements for Sentencing

Where a defendant’s sentence will result from a plea-based conviction,¹ the trial court must determine whether the parties have made a plea agreement, “which may include an agreement to a sentence to a specific term or within a specific range[.]” MCR 6.302(C)(1).

Any agreement “must be stated on the record or reduced to writing and signed by the parties,”² and “[t]he written agreement shall be made part of the case file.” Id. See also MCR 6.610(F)(5) (requiring court to make plea agreement part of the record).

MCR 6.302(C)(2) provides:

“If the plea involves a statement by the court that it will sentence to a specified term or within a specified range, the court must:

(a) state that any sentencing guidelines range discussed at the plea hearing is a preliminary estimate and that the final sentencing guidelines range determined by the court may differ,

(b) advise the defendant whether any sentencing guidelines range discussed at the plea hearing is part of the plea such that they have a right to withdraw their plea under MCR 6.310(B) if the final sentencing guidelines range determined by the court at sentencing is different, and

(c) provide a numerically quantifiable sentence term or range. A quantifiable sentence range includes language such as ‘lower/upper half’ or ‘lower/upper quarter.’”

“If there is a plea agreement, the court must ask the prosecutor or the defendant’s lawyer what the terms of the agreement are and confirm the terms of the agreement with the other lawyer and the defendant.” MCR 6.302(C)(3).

Before a trial court may sentence a defendant whose guilty or no contest plea is part of a plea agreement, the court must comply with the procedure in MCR 6.302(C)(3), in addition to the other plea-taking requirements set forth in MCR 6.302.

MCR 6.302(C)(4) provides:

“If there is a plea agreement and its terms provide for the defendant’s plea to be made in exchange for a sentence to a specified term or within a specified range or a prosecutorial sentence recommendation, the court may

(a) reject the agreement; or

(b) accept the agreement after having considered the presentence report, in which event it must sentence the defendant to a specified term or within a specified range as agreed to; or

(c) accept the agreement without having considered the presentence report; or

(d) take the plea under advisement.

If the court accepts the agreement without having considered the presentence report or takes the plea agreement under advisement, it must explain to the defendant that the court is not bound to follow an agreement to a sentence for a specified term or within a specified range or a recommendation agreed to by the prosecutor, and that if the court chooses not to follow an agreement to a sentence for a specified term or within a specified range, the defendant will be allowed to withdraw from the plea agreement. A judge’s decision not to follow the sentence recommendation does not entitle the defendant to withdraw the defendant’s plea.”

If there is a plea agreement, the court must ask the defendant:

“(a) . . . whether anyone has promised anything beyond what is in the plea agreement;

(b) whether anyone has threatened the defendant; and

(c) whether it is the defendant’s own choice to plead guilty.” MCR 6.302(C)(5).