Plea Agreement Tossed Because Defendant Offered Illusory Benefit

The plea bargain a defendant in a drug conspiracy case agreed to was vacated by the Fifth Circuit, because the five-year enhancement for being a repeat drug offender was no longer applicable to him.

Oliver Pierre was facing one count for conspiring to traffic 280 grams of cocaine base and one count of distributing 28 grams of cocaine base. In exchange for pleading guilty to the conspiracy count, the prosecutor agreed to drop the distribution count and said he wouldn’t charge Pierre as a repeat offender based on his prior state convictions.

As a repeat offender, Pierre was facing a ...