Opinion
4:21-cr-00117
12-03-2021
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. KEITH SMITH, Defendant.
PAMELA A. BARKER, JUDGE
REPORT &RECOMMENDATION
DAVID A. RUIZ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Pursuant to General Order 99-49, this matter has been referred to United States Magistrate Judge David A. Ruiz for purposes of receiving, on consent of the parties, the defendant's proffer of a plea of guilty, conducting the colloquy prescribed by Fed. R. Crim. P. 11, causing a verbatim record of the proceedings to be prepared, referring the matter, if appropriate, for presentence investigation, and submitting a Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation stating whether the plea should be accepted and a finding of guilty entered. The following, along with the transcript or other record of the proceedings submitted herewith, constitutes the Magistrate Judge's Report and Recommendation concerning the plea of guilty proffered by the defendant.
1. On November 30, 2021, the defendant, accompanied by counsel, proffered a plea of guilty to Count 1 and 2 of the indictment.
2. Prior to such proffer, the defendant was examined as to competency, advised of 1 the charges in Count 1 and 2, the elements of the charges, and consequences of conviction, informed that the Federal Sentencing Guidelines are advisory and the Court must consider them but the Court may impose any reasonable sentence authorized by law, notified of his rights, advised that he was waiving all rights except the right to counsel, and, if such were the case, his right to appeal, and otherwise was provided with the information prescribed in Fed. R. Crim. P. 11.
3. The parties and counsel informed the Court that there was no plea agreement between the parties and any plea offers by the United States Attorney's Office had been communicated to the defendant by defense counsel; the undersigned was advised that no representations, commitments or promises have been made by any party, and no agreements, written or unwritten, have been made between the parties.
4. The undersigned questioned the defendant under oath about the knowing, intelligent, and voluntary nature of the plea of guilty, and finds that the defendant was competent to enter a plea and the plea was offered knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.
5. The parties provided the undersigned with sufficient information about the charged offenses and the defendant's conduct to establish a factual basis for the plea, and the defendant acknowledged that he committed the acts as set forth during the hearing and alleged in Count 1 and 2 of the indictment.
In light of the foregoing and the record submitted herewith, the undersigned finds that the defendant's plea of guilty was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary, and all requirements imposed 2 by the United States Constitution and Fed. R. Crim. P. 11 have been satisfied. Therefore, the undersigned recommends that the defendant's plea of guilty be accepted and a finding of guilty be entered by the Court. 3