Moody v. State

In Moody v. State, 716 So. 2d 592 (Miss. 1998), Kenneth Moody was indicted for two counts of capital murder and one count of simple murder. Id. 593. He entered into an agreement with the State which required him, inter alia, to plead guilty to the murder charges and cooperate fully by making complete disclosures to the State regarding his participation in and knowledge of the charged offenses. Id. The agreement required the State to recommend that Moody be sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment without parole and not seek the death penalty. Moody performed his part of the agreement, but the trial court would not accept Moody's guilty pleas. On appeal, the Mississippi Supreme Court held that Moody was entitled to have the agreement enforced in toto because Moody detrimentally relied on the agreement with the prosecutor by substantially performing many of the terms of the agreement before the trial court refused to accept the guilty pleas. Id. The Moody court went on to rule that agreements between the State and defendants must be upheld by the trial court where a criminal defendant has detrimentally relied upon the agreement. Id.