Chae v. People

I concur with Part II of the majority’s opinion that the district court’s suspended sentence was an improper sentence. The majority concludes that Chae’s plea must be vacated because the district court’s illegal sentence was an integral part of the plea agreement. See maj. op. at 485. I dissent because I believe that under the facts of this case Chae entered a knowing and voluntary plea, and the court’s illegal suspended sentence did not invalidate the voluntariness of the plea. After a Crim.P. 35(c) hearing, the court corrected the illegality in the sentence and the defendant received the…