However, in rare situations, the appearance of impropriety itself is a ground for disqualification, as our case law recognizes, when the appearance is such as to "discourage[] public confidence in our government and the system of law to which it is dedicated" (People v Zimmer, 51 NY2d 390, 396 [1980]). In a case of that nature, "[d]efendant, and indeed the public at large, are entitled to protection against the appearance of
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*613 impropriety" (Shinkle, 51 NY2d at 421). We are persuaded by the unique circumstances that this is such a case.
Although no constitutional right to a plea bargain exists (see Lafler v Cooper, 566 US ___, ___, 132 S Ct 1376, 1395 [2012]), an appearance of impropriety may arise when the record provides an objective basis to question whether the prosecutor is exercising pretrial prosecutorial discretion in an evenhanded manner, based on the merits of the case or other legitimate prosecutorial concerns. Here, while we do not find that any actual impropriety occurred, there is an unacceptably great appearance of impropriety — the appearance that the District Attorney's office refused to accept a reduced charge because the complainant was a sitting judge who demanded that the matter go to trial, rather than because a trial was, in its own disinterested judgment, appropriate.
