In what circumstances will a prosecutor be allowed to induce a defendant to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence?

In Santobello v. New York (1971) 404 U.S. 257, 92 S.Ct. 495, 30 L.Ed.2d 427 the prosecutor induced the defendant to plead guilty by reducing the [209 Cal.App.3d 552] charges and by agreeing not to make a sentence recommendation. He then violated that agreement by urging the maximum sentence of one year imprisonment. In reversing the judgment the court held that "... when a plea rests in any significant degree on a promise or agreement of the prosecutor ... such promise must be fulfilled." (Id., at p. 262, 92 S.Ct. at p. 499.)

Similarly, when the court, as part of a plea bargain, said it would obtain a diagnostic report before imposing sentence, and then failed to do so, it committed reversible error. (People v. Mancheno (1982) 32 Cal.3d 855, 187 Cal.Rptr. 441, 654 P.2d 211.) The "integrity of the process [must] be maintained by insuring that the state keep[s] its word when it offers inducements in exchange for a plea of guilty."

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