Strict Enforcement of Promise to Drop Charges

A defendant is entitled to specific performance of the state's promise to drop a charge even though the deal was given through a proxy.

 

State v. King, N.M., No. 34.411, Sept. 10, 2015

     The defendant said he would produce a murder weapon in exchange for the state agreeing to drop an evidence-tampering charge. The state must uphold that deal even though it was communicated "by proxy" through a detective, and seemed only to indicate that the prosecutor would discuss a dismissal.

     The court did not accept a "literal, finely-parsed" reading of the exchange which might have suggested that the prosecutor only promised to "talk dismissal." The court said that would not have been a fair reading of the exchange, indicating that it makes no sense that the defendant would deliver the weapon to intite a dialogue about dismissing the charges, especially because he had proposed the deal in the first place.

http://www2.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/STATE_OF_NEW_MEXICO_PlaintiffAppellee_v_DONOVAN_KING_DefendantApp