Can the District Attorney refuse to bargain with the Court on a plea to plead guilty to all or part of the information and indictment?

Sentencing is a judicial function; and when the court seeks information in order to indicate a sentence, that is a judicial, not an executive, act. The executive branch, as we will conclude, may refuse to bargain in the sense of rejecting any reduction of the charge or objecting to any proposed sentence; but it usually has no right to interfere in the process of extending an indicated sentence to a defendant willing to plead guilty to all or part of an information or indictment. (Cf. Pen.Code, 1192.7.) Indeed, the prosecution may be required to participate by sending a representative to court with authority to speak on its behalf concerning settlement. (Cal.Rules of Court, rule 227.6.) For, although the district attorney cannot be compelled to agree to any particular disposition, he cannot withhold pertinent information and his own views concerning settlement in an effort to prevent the defendant from pleading guilty and seeking the mercy of the court. (See People v. Reza (1984) 152 Cal.App.3d 647, 651-654, 199 Cal.Rptr. 664.)

This does not mean, of course, that a court may dismiss or reduce any count without the district attorney's consent (see generally People v. Orin (1975) 13 Cal.3d 937, 120 Cal.Rptr. 65, 533 P.2d 193), only that the prosecution may not refuse to participate in the process of disposing of a case short of trial based on a plea to some or all of the counts as charged. Notwithstanding the settlement

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