Opinion ID: 1694762
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Initial Plea Negotiations

Text: Upon Wainwright's arrival in Florida after his arrest in Mississippi, Victor Africano was assigned to represent him. Africano sought to negotiate a plea bargain with the State. The conditions of the plea were that Wainwright was to fully cooperate with the police and pass a polygraph examination proving that he was not the person who killed Gayheart. Shortly after Wainwright refused to take the polygraph examination, Africano filed a motion to withdraw from the case. Wainwright claims that Africano was ineffective for failing to have the plea agreement reduced to writing, failing to explain the plea, and allowing Wainwright to speak to law enforcement officers alone. The trial court denied this claim after an evidentiary hearing, finding: [Wainwright] testified on this claim at the evidentiary hearing and stated that he would have taken a polygraph examination at the State Attorney's Office on May 20, 1994, but for the lack of a written plea agreement. Mr. Africano was terminally ill at the time of the hearing, and the parties stipulated that he was unavailable. The State introduced testimony from Sheriff Harrell Reid and State Attorney Jerry Blair. Both stated that the Defendant refused to take the polygraph test after confessing that he both raped and killed the victim. Mr. Blair testified that a written plea agreement was never requested. At the hearing the Defendant also denied raping and killing the victim and stated that he was willing to take the polygraph examination on May 20, 1994 and would have passed it. This is contradicted by testimony at the trial and at the hearing. The Court finds the Defendant's testimony at the hearing to be incredible. It is obvious that the plea negotiations were terminated because the Defendant could not meet the conditions of the agreement, i.e., he could not pass a polygraph test to demonstrate that he did not rape and kill the victim. Mr. Africano was an experienced trial lawyer, and counsel must be presumed to have acted in a reasonable manner. That the plea negotiations failed was due to the Defendant's inability to meet the conditions of the plea agreement, not to anything Mr. Africano did or did not do. With the exception of the emphasized sentence above, the trial court's factual findings are supported by competent, substantial evidence in the record. [5] Africano did not testify at the evidentiary hearing. [6] Wainwright, Sheriff Reid, State Attorney Jerry Blair, and trial counsel did. Wainwright testified that upon his arrival in Florida, he met with Africano for about 25 to 30 minutes. He said Africano told him about the following plea bargain: if he cooperated and he passed a polygraph examination that showed he did not participate in the rape or murder, he would receive a life sentence. After speaking with Africano, Wainwright met with Sheriff Reid and others, but during this meeting, no mention was made of the plea bargain. Also, the bargain was never reduced to writing and Africano never talked to Wainwright about a written agreement. Wainwright then went on two outings with law enforcement officers to gather evidence. Finally, some days later, Wainwright was transported to the state attorney's office, where he refused to take the polygraph. Wainwright explained that he refused to take the polygraph because I had asked him [Sheriff Reid] while we were down in the state attorney's office could I get something in writing regarding our deal. He said he didn't know nothing about no deal. Wainwright testified that when he asked Africano about the deal, He didn't say nothing. Finally, Wainwright stated he was still willing to take the polygraph, and would have cooperated further had there been a written agreement. Sheriff Reid, the sheriff of Hamilton County, testified that when Wainwright was first transported to Florida, Reid spoke with Africano and explained that law enforcement officers were interested in determining who actually killed the victim, and that if Wainwright could prove that he was not involved in the murder, then we were willing to offer him a chance at life without parole and not seek the death penalty. Not me personally, but through negotiations. Sheriff Reid testified that he had discussed the deal with State Attorney Jerry Blair. Sheriff Reid explained that before the polygraph was to be taken, Africano alerted the Sheriff that Wainwright had a statement to make. At that point, I went into the conference room where he and Mr. Africano were and Mr. Wainwright told me that he had raped and had sex with Ms. Gayheart. Wainwright then declined to take the polygraph. Finally, Sheriff Reid testified that he did not recall Wainwright stating he would not take the polygraph unless he had a written agreement. State Attorney Jerry Blair, who prosecuted Wainwright at trial, testified that he informed Africano that if Wainwright could pass a polygraph test showing that he was not the triggerman, then the State would accept a guilty plea in exchange for a life sentence if Wainwright testified against the codefendant. Blair also testified that his office used a substantial assistance form that recited the terms of a plea agreement, and had a request been made to put this deal in writing, that form would have been available and the deal would have been reduced to writing. Like Sheriff Reid, Blair testified that after stating that he had raped the victim, Wainwright refused to take the polygraph. Blair testified that the State was willing to go through with the deal despite Wainwright's admission about the rape. Finally, trial counsel testified that he spoke to Africano, as best as he could recall, on two occasions. Trial counsel explained that they discussed the plea bargain and in response to a question about why the polygraph did not occur, Africano told him that the negotiations had broken down. Africano never commented to him about Wainwright's desire to have the plea agreement reduced to writing. Wainwright has failed to demonstrate that Africano rendered ineffective assistance. Wainwright testified that if the deal had been in writing, he would have taken the polygraph examination. The evidence established, however, that Wainwright refused to take the polygraph after admitting he had raped the victim. No testimony, other than Wainwright's, indicates that Wainwright was interested in having the plea reduced to writing at the time of the negotiations. The trial court found Wainwright's testimony at the hearing not credible. It further found that the plea negotiations were terminated because Wainwright could not meet the conditions of the agreement, i.e., he could not pass a polygraph test to demonstrate that he did not rape and kill the victim. Also, Africano did not allow Wainwright to speak to law enforcement officers alone, as Wainwright alleges. Although there were instances during the investigation when Africano was not present, as part of the plea bargain Wainwright was required to fully cooperate and freely give statements to the police. Even if Africano's performance had been deficient in some way, Wainwright has failed to demonstrate prejudice. He alleges that because of Africano's deficient performance, he was sentenced to death even though he had been promised a life sentence if he took a polygraph test and passed it. This argument assumes that Wainwright would have passed the test, a contention which the testimony and evidence at trial rebuts. Thus, Wainwright has failed to demonstrate that a reasonable probability exists that, but for counsel's alleged unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. The trial court properly denied this claim.