United States v. Kent

OPINION

GOULD, Circuit Judge:

Jay Kent’s appeal of his conviction and sentence for drug distribution offenses requires us to decide two questions: First, once a defendant has stated before the district court his or her intention to enter a guilty plea, is it an abuse of that court’s discretion to accept a prosecutor’s filing of enhanced charges against the defendant? Second, does a prosecutor act with impermissible vindictiveness when he or she makes good on a plea bargaining threat to enhance charges against a defendant, despite the defendant’s willingness to plead guilty unconditionally?…