Thomas, J., dissenting
bargained.[1]
The trial court accepted the plea agreements and, as required, sentenced Garza to 10 years’ imprisonment. However, the court noted that if the cases had been “considered individually,” a “harsher sentence” might have been warranted due to Garza’s “history of violent crime” and the “gratuitous aggression” displayed by Garza in the aggravated-assault case. Record 336.
Four months later, Garza filed the petitions for postconviction relief at issue here. Among other things, he claimed that his pleas were not voluntary and that his counsel had been constitutionally ineffective for failing to file an appeal despite repeated requests that he do so. For relief, Garza requested that his sentences “run concurrent.” Id., at 207. The trial court appointed counsel to pursue Garza’s collateral challenges. It subsequently dismissed Garza’s claim that his plea was involuntary for “lack of supporting evidence,” but it allowed the ineffective-assistance claim to proceed. App. to Pet for Cert. 3a, 29a.
In response to Garza’s ineffective-assistance claim, Idaho submitted an affidavit from Garza’s trial counsel, which stated, “Garza indicated to me that he knew he agreed not to appeal his sentence(s) but he told me that he wanted to appeal the sentence(s)” anyway. Record 151. The trial counsel explained that he did not honor that request because “Garza received the sentence(s) he bargained for in his [Idaho Criminal Rule] 11(f)(1)(c) Agreement,” and he told Garza “that an appeal was problematic because he waived his right to appeal in his Rule 11 agreements.” Ibid. Garza, through his newly appointed
- ↑ See id., at 96, 108 (“I understand that my plea agreement is a binding plea agreement. This means that if the district court does not impose the specific sentence as recommended by both parties, I will be allowed to withdraw my plea of guilty pursuant to Rule 11(d)(4) of the Idaho Criminal Rules and proceed to a jury trial”); see also id., at 128.
