IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA
No. 21-0101
Filed December 15, 2021
STATE OF IOWA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
vs.
MYCHAEL RICHARD PATTEN,
Defendant-Appellant.
________________________________________________________________
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Lee (North) County, John M. Wright,
Judge.
Mychael Patten appeals his sentences, asserting the State breached the
plea agreement. AFFIRMED.
Martha J. Lucey, State Appellate Defender, and Josh Irwin, Assistant
Appellate Defender, for appellant.
Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, and Thomas J. Ogden, Assistant
Attorney General, for appellee.
Considered by Bower, C.J., Vaitheswaran, J., and Vogel, S.J.*
*Senior judge assigned by order pursuant to Iowa Code section 602.9206
(2021).
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VOGEL, Senior Judge.
In November 2020, Mychael Patten pleaded guilty to: (Count 1) domestic
abuse assault, strangulation with bodily injury; (Count 2) child endangerment,
substantial risk; (Count 3) assault with a dangerous weapon; and (Count 4) false
imprisonment. The plea results from a report by Patten’s wife that he assaulted
her, threatened her with a firearm, and confined her in their home all while their
three-year-old daughter was present. As part of a plea agreement, Patten and the
State jointly agreed to recommend suspended sentences to run consecutively for
a total suspended term of incarceration of ten years. On January 8, 2021, the
district court held a sentencing hearing and sentenced Patten to terms of
incarceration not to exceed five years for Count 1, two years for Count 2, two years
for Count 3, and 365 days for Count 4 with credit for time served and the remaining
time suspended. Counts 2 and 3 ran concurrently with each other and consecutive
to Count 1, for a total term of incarceration not to exceed seven years. The
suspended sentence of Count 4 also ran consecutively to the other sentences.
Patten appeals, arguing the State breached the plea agreement through the
prosecutor’s statements at sentencing.1
We review a claim the State breached a plea agreement for correction of
errors at law. State v. King, 576 N.W.2d 369, 370 (Iowa 1998). “The relevant
inquiry in determining whether the prosecutor breached the plea agreement is
1 A defendant does not have the right to appeal from a guilty plea unless “the
defendant establishes good cause.” Iowa Code § 814.6(1)(a)(3) (2021). Patten
asserts he has good cause to appeal because he claims the State breached the
plea agreement. See State v. Boldon, 954 N.W.2d 62, 69 (Iowa 2021) (finding
good cause for appeal when the defendant claims the State breached the plea
agreement). The State agrees Patten established good cause.
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whether the prosecutor acted contrary to the common purpose of the plea
agreement and the justified expectations of the defendant and thereby effectively
deprived the defendant of the benefit of the bargain.” Boldon, 954 N.W.2d at 71
(quoting State v. Frencher, 873 N.W.2d 281, 284 (Iowa Ct. App. 2015)). “Where
the prosecutor has agreed to make a particular sentencing recommendation, the
prosecutor must do more than ‘simply inform[ ] the court of the promise the State
has made to the defendant with respect to sentencing. The State must actually
fulfill the promise.’” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting Frencher, 873 N.W.2d at
284).
At sentencing, the prosecutor explained the State’s recommendation:
Your Honor, the State is asking that the Court adopt the plea
agreement that is outlined in the Presentence Investigation Report
that was agreed to by the parties.
For the Court’s information, the sole reason for this
recommendation by the State is based on conversations with the
victim herself. And ordinarily that doesn’t necessarily drive the
State’s recommendation, but based on the conversations with her
and her sincere desire for the Defendant to be able to have a
relationship with his daughter, she felt that that was of utmost
importance and priority to give him this opportunity for a suspended
sentence on these matters . . . .
....
But for the Court’s information, that is the sole driving force
and the reason for the State’s recommendation in this matter.
Patten argues the prosecutor “implied her disapproval” of the recommended
sentence by pointing to the victim’s wishes as “the sole driving force” behind the
recommendation. See State v. Bearse, 748 N.W.2d 211, 218 (Iowa 2008) (“Our
system of justice . . . does not allow prosecutors to make sentencing
recommendations with a wink and a nod.”); see also State v. Horness, 600 N.W.2d
294, 299 (Iowa 1999) (finding the prosecutor is required “to present the
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recommended sentences with his or her approval, to commend these sentences
to the court, and to otherwise indicate to the court that the recommended
sentences are supported by the State and worthy of the court’s acceptance”).
In imposing Patten’s sentences, the district court noted it “considered the
entire Presentence Investigation Report” and provided the following explanation to
Patten:
You’re twenty-nine years old. You’re not a youthful offender.
You do have a high school education. However, there are two
factors that weigh heavily in my decision. One is your criminal
history. And the fact that you were on probation for a felony at the
time you committed these crimes clearly indicates to the Court that
you had no intention of obeying the law.
While I understand how [your counsel] is trying to paint a
picture of you complying with the terms of probation, he does admit
that there is a huge gap there, a hole in his argument on your behalf,
because you committed these offenses while you were being
rehabilitated by the State of Iowa. So clearly probation was not
effective.
And the other point that I would make is that these are very
serious crimes.
Patten’s counsel then clarified Patten was on probation for an aggravated
misdemeanor2 and had no prior felony convictions. The court acknowledged it
misspoke and continued:
[T]he conviction for which he was serving probation was of a serious
nature. And regardless if it was an aggravated misdemeanor or a
felony, the fact that he was on probation at the time that he
committed these offenses clearly indicates to the Court that he has
no ability or desire for that matter to abide by the terms and
conditions of his probation.
2 The Presentence Investigation Report states Patten was convicted of invasion of
privacy in October 2019 and sentenced to two years of probation with a
requirement that he register as a sex offender for ten years.
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The court’s thorough explanation makes clear the court considered the big
picture in sentencing Patten to incarceration, regardless of how forcefully the
prosecutor emphasized the State’s recommendation of a suspended sentence.
Furthermore, the prosecutor never referred to the sentencing factors the court
cited: Patten’s age, education, criminal history and probation violation, and the
seriousness of his offenses. While the Presentence Investigation Report
recommended incarceration, the prosecutor never mentioned this
recommendation nor suggested the court ignore the State’s recommendation. At
most, the prosecutor’s reference to the victim’s wishes justified a suspended
sentence when the facts may otherwise call for incarceration, thereby providing
the court with a reason to impose a suspended sentence. We cannot find the
prosecutor explicitly or implicitly disapproved of the State’s recommendation of a
suspended sentence or otherwise indicated incarceration would be more
appropriate. See Boldon, 954 N.W.2d at 72 (finding “the prosecutor expressed no
material reservation regarding the plea agreement”). Therefore, we reject Patten’s
claim the State breached the plea agreement.
AFFIRMED.