Lance Mitchell Owens v. Dexter Payne, Director, Arkansas Department of Correction
1. Are courts violating the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution by excluding defendants who enter plea agreements from mandatory procedures for sentencing defendants in plea agreement cases?
2. Does the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provide defendants who enter plea agreements the right to be sentenced in accordance with sentencing statutes that expressly mandate procedures for sentencing defendants in plea agreement cases?
3. Can the statutory procedures that govern plea agreements be waived by plea agreement?
Are courts violating the Equal Protection Clause by excluding defendants in plea agreements from mandatory sentencing procedures?