P. v. Ware CA2/5
Defendant and appellant James Ware, Jr. (defendant) talked himself into a sentence of 35 years to life in prison. During phone calls with his brother Rick Ware (Rick), defendant repeatedly threatened to set fire to the house occupied by their mother, Rick, and Rick’s daughter after Rick told defendant he was not welcome in the house. Rick recorded the calls without defendant’s knowledge and played the recordings for the police, who arrested defendant and charged him with attempted arson and making criminal threats. Defendant initially secured a very favorable plea deal, but when he exhibited reticence about following through on his end of the bargain, the trial court withdrew its approval of the deal and set the case for trial. A jury found defendant guilty on the criminal threats charge, and we are asked to decide (1) whether the trial court abused its discretion when it set aside the plea deal, (2) whether the court correctly ruled the phone call recordings were admissible, (
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