United States v. Doe

MORITZ, Circuit Judge.

Plea agreements are “an essential component of the administration of justice.” Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 260, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 (1971). But there’s nothing “just[j,” id., about requiring defendants to fulfill their obligations under such agreements unless the government must do the same. Here, the plea agreement obligated the government to exercise its discretion in determining whether to file a substantial-assistance motion. Yet according to the defendant, *1297the government failed to exercise that discretion in good faith and thereby breached the…