United States v. Tarbell

JOSÉ A. CABRANES, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal we consider whether a plea was “voluntary,” as required by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(b)(2), 1 even though the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York (Norman A. Mordue, Judge) did not inquire into a separate confidential cooperation agreement before accepting defendant’s plea. On the facts of this case, we conclude that the District Court did not “plainly err” by accepting defendant’s plea in open court without referencing the separate confidential cooperation agreement. We also reject defendant’s claim that…