United States v. Bergman case brief

United States v. Bergman case brief summary
416 F.Supp. 496 (1976)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant nursing home operator was being sentenced upon his plea of guilty to two counts of an 11-count indictment. Defendant was convicted of various schemes to defraud the United States, including the presentation of wrongfully padded claims for payments under the Medicaid program to the operator's nursing homes.

DISCUSSION

• A state guilty plea and the instant plea were entered by the operator. 
• The court found that the seriousness of the crimes to which the operator had pled guilty demanded something more than "requiring" him to lend his talents and efforts to further philanthropic enterprises. 
• The court noted that the course of justice had to be sought with objective rationality, tempered with mercy, but obedient to the law, which was all that empowered a judge to make other people suffer. 
• The court found that the occasion for the application to postpone surrender was an unresolved dispute, evidently in progress for some time, over the restitution aspect of the state plea bargain. 
• The court found that the federal plea bargain and the state plea bargain were tied inseparably together. 
• The court noted that there was a possibility that nullification of the state plea bargain may have led to nullification of the present plea bargain and a substantial motion to withdraw the guilty plea and vacate the sentence.

CONCLUSION
The court granted the motion to postpone surrender.

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