Opinion ID: 1852379
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Failure to Impeach Essential State Witness Kenneth Young with Available Information

Text: During the last penalty phase below, State witness Young provided damaging testimony relating to an incident which occurred while he and Waterhouse were both in the Pinellas County Jail. The record as to this incident indicates that while harassing a young man who had just been brought into the jail, Waterhouse pulled out a make-shift knife and began threatening the young man with the weapon. Appellant then ordered everyone out of the cell block, and after repeated pleas for help from the young man, Waterhouse eventually left him alone. As he was walking out of the cell block Waterhouse mumbled, I wonder how he'd like a Coke bottle up his ass like I gave her. Because we ultimately determine that the allegations presented in connection with this claim are conclusively refuted by the record, we affirm the trial court's denial of an evidentiary hearing as to this assertion. Specifically, Waterhouse maintains that his counsel was ineffective in failing to confront Kenneth Young with information that Young had sought favorable treatment from the State on his pending charges in exchange for testimony against Waterhouse. The trial court record indicates the opposite. During the cross-examination of Young in the penalty phase proceedings, the following exchange occurred between defense counsel and Young: [Defense Counsel Hoffman]: Okay. At the time you were talking about around the 13th of July, 1980, you were in Pinellas County jail? [Young]: Yes, sir, I was. [Hoffman]: At that time had you been sentenced to all your charges? [Young]: No, sir, I hadn't. [Hoffman]: What? [Young]: I was awaiting sentencing on attempted escape and contraband in the county jail. [Hoffman]: Felony charges? [Young]: Yes, sir. [Hoffman]: Okay, I didn't write it down. How many times have you been convicted of a felony? [Young]: All five of them were in a six month period, all in that same time. [Hoffman]: So, the answer is five times convicted felon? [Young]: Yes, sir. . . . . [Hoffman]: Isn't it true that at the time that you relayed this story about what Mr. Waterhouse is alleged to have said, you were working on a plea bargain, trying to do something with these cases you were not sentenced on? [Young]: At the time that I told the investigators, no, sir. [Hoffman]: You didn't have an attorney working on a plea bargain for you? [Young]: When I told them, no, sir. Right after that the attorney started working with it. [Hoffman:] So, until you told the State, then he didn't have anything to go to the State with for a plea bargain, is that what you mean? [Young:] No, sir. [Hoffman:] I'm sorry. You said he didn't go to the State to try to work a plea bargain until after you told this story. [Young:] That's right, sir. After I told the story, the Court said that I should have an attorney and the Court appointed me an attorney. . . . . [Hoffman:] And what you're saying is that until you told this story, there wasn't anything to be used to plea bargain for you. There was nobody around to say, hey, I got this great client, I need a plea bargain for him? [Young:] No, sir. [Hoffman:] After you had told the story about Mr. Waterhouse, then they had something they could use? [Young:] Yes, sir. [Hoffman:] Okay. You got adjudicated on five different felonies, convicted as a felon on five, right? [Young:] Yes, sir. [Hoffman:] What was your ultimate punishment? [Young:] Two and a half years. [Hoffman:] Of what? [Young:] Of incarceration in the state penal system. . . . . [Hoffman:] Isn't it true that your case resolution on these five felonies was postponed until after you testified? [Young:] Yes, sir. I believe two, the last two were. As is evident from this exchange, defense counsel sought to impeach Young's credibility by establishing that Young had provided favorable information to the State, that immediately after providing such information Young's attorney began to work on the terms of a plea bargain, and that resolution of Young's pending charges was postponed until after he testified at Waterhouse's trial. As such, Waterhouse's claim that defense counsel failed to diminish Young's credibility by confronting him with information relating to a possible deal between the State and Young is conclusively refuted by the record.