Opinion ID: 1802709
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Failure to Disclose Manipulations With Regard to the Jailhouse Informant Jeffrey Allen

Text: Jimenez asserts that the State committed a Brady violation through the failure to disclose the manipulations of the jailhouse informant Jeffrey Allen. The State allegedly planted Allen in the jail to acquire evidence and implicate Jimenez in the murder of Minas. Additionally, Jimenez alleges that despite the fact that the State knew that Allen could not be used as a witness during the trial, the State utilized Allen before the trial to force the public defender's office to withdraw from representing Jimenez due to a conflict of interest (Allen was also previously represented by the public defender's office in an unrelated case). This subclaim is procedurally barred. There is no new evidence that was unavailable to Jimenez when he filed the amended rule 3.850 motion. Instead, when Jimenez's trial counsel deposed Detective Diecidue on December 13, 1995, he stated that Allen had provided him with the confession of Jimenez that he had murdered two females which matched the description of the Minas and Debas murders. Even without this procedural bar, this subclaim is without merit. The fact that the public defender's office was forced to withdraw from representing Jimenez is irrelevant with regard to this Brady claim. While Jimenez had a constitutional right to counsel during the trial, he did not have the right to representation from a particular attorney. Thus, Jimenez has not established a basis for relief.