Opinion ID: 1982561
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the hearing on the motion to enforce the agreement

Text: Brown, the original prosecutor, testified at length at the hearing. He insisted that he never said or intended that the polygraph test was a part of the plea agreement. The plea agreement had been reached before the polygraph test was proposed. The test was simply a means of determining whether [Allgood] was living up to the terms of the agreement. In other words, it was to measure whether or not Allgood had been truthful as he had agreed to be in order to be entitled to reap the benefits promised in the agreement. Allgood's release to the navy was to get him to take the test. Brown stated this view throughout his testimony. The polygraph was to determine whether [Allgood] was telling the truth or not. The purpose of determining whether he was telling the truth or not was to determine whether we were bound by the [plea] agreement. The purpose of allowing him to stay out of City Jail and in the custody of the Navy was to facilitate the taking of the polygraph. Brown put it more succinctly a little later: I would not have agreed to the polygraphing of [Allgood] just for the sake of the polygraph. The purpose of the polygraph was to determine whether [Allgood] was telling the truth or not, and if he was telling the truth, then we were bound. If he wasn't, then we weren't bound, and that was the end of it. Brown reiterated his view again under persistent questioning: [I]t's very clear in my mind that the purpose of [Allgood's] being in the custody of the Navy was to facilitate the taking of the polygraph, and the purpose of the polygraph was to determine whether he was lying or not, and the purpose of determining whether he was lying or not was to determine whether we were bound by the agreement. Brown explained why the written plea agreement was never signed: The agreement was ideally the terms that we were willing to agree to and also those that Mr. Allgood was willing to agree to, and ... the agreement basically was that he would testify truthfully and give us, tell us the truth about what happened. This was never executed because between the time it was drafted and the time that it would have been signed, there was again some concerns about whether he was telling us the truth or not, and those concerns were to be resolved by way of a polygraph. After the results of the polygraph, there wasn't any need for this to be executed because the deal at that time was off. David Ellis, defense counsel, did not testify at the hearing. His position, gleaned to some extent through the questions he posed to the witnesses and mainly from his argument to the court, was that the polygraph test was not part of the plea agreement and that its results were to play no role whatsoever in establishing whether Allgood had lived up to the plea agreement. His understanding was that the sole purpose of the test was to determine whether Allgood was to await trial in jail or in the navy brig. That was why he agreed to permit Allgood to take the test. The test was not part of the deal. Otherwise, he would not have agreed, because there was no tangible evidence whatsoever, as the matter stood before the test, that Allgood was lying. In any event, Ellis argued, Allgood had substantially performed everything he was able to do. Brown, Ellis urged, got 95% of the truth out of Allgood and that was enough to satisfy the agreement. As we have noted, Ellis's position was not presented to the court by way of any testimonial evidence by him, but primarily through his argument. The only evidence to support Ellis's view came from two of his former law clerks. One of them gave her recollection of what had occurred during a conference in the judge's chambers. Mr. Brown said that he wanted Mr. Allgood to take a polygraph. Mr. Brown was not comfortable with what was going on with releasing [Allgood] to the Navy. He was just uncomfortable about it, and he wanted [Allgood] to take the polygraph examination, and Mr. Ellis said that was fine with him but that it was not part of the deal. This was reflected in notes she had taken at the conference and admitted in evidence. The notes also contained a line, [There is] no evidence that [Allgood is] not telling the truth. The other law clerk had helped draft the petition to transfer Allgood to the custody of the navy. He testified: My concept of the meaning of the petition was that George Allgood was to be  his custody was to be transferred to the United States Navy, and as a condition of that transfer, as a condition of his remaining with the United States Navy pending any further hearings in his or Michael Walker's matters, he would have to take a polygraph, concerning his testimony before the Grand Jury and concerning what he had told the State's Attorney, basically, and if he was to pass that polygraph, he would stay with the Navy. If he did not pass the polygraph then he would be turned over to the custody of the Baltimore City Jail. He was asked about the relationship between the plea agreement and the petition to transfer custody. He said: Well, the addition of the transfer of custody has nothing to do with the plea agreement, itself. That is my recollection of the entire incident. With respect to the plea agreement he said: As far as the plea agreement itself, we had reached an agreement and it was originally that Mr. Brown was going to be responsible for writing up a copy, and then there was a provision for placing it on the record in ... court. The clerk's recollection was that this was thereafter changed so that the agreement would be placed on record after Allgood testified. Later, he said, Brown told him that the agreement had been written up but it was not necessary to turn it over to defense counsel because [n]obody was going to sign it. It was not to be submitted to the court. Allgood testified at the hearing. He said that the plea agreement was that if I was to come straight out, say what happened [at the time of the murder], that I would be released to the custody of the Navy. Asked what effect the plea agreement had on his prosecution, he said that he would come to trial and turn State's evidence. He would get ten years suspended sentence and five years probation. He was to plead guilty to manslaughter. The transcript of his cross-examination reads: Q. Mr. Allgood, you started to say that part of the plea agreement was that you had to take a polygraph; isn't that right? A. Yes. Q. And what was to happen if you flunked the polygraph? A. That ... the agreement would be taken away.