Petit-Homme v. State, 4D16–1343.
| Decision Date | 23 November 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 4D16–1343.,4D16–1343. |
| Citation | 205 So.3d 848 |
| Parties | Inestin PETIT–HOMME, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Inestin Petit–Homme, Okeechobee, pro se.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Melynda L. Melear, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
Inestin Petit–Homme appeals a trial court order summarily denying his motion for postconviction relief. We affirm as to ground one and reverse and remand as to ground two.
Appellant was convicted in 1999 of four counts of armed kidnapping. He was sentenced to life in prison with a three year mandatory minimum term. He appealed and this Court per curiam affirmed in Petit–Homme v. State, 845 So.2d 209 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). In this motion for postconviction relief filed in January 2016, appellant raised two grounds. We affirm the trial court's summary denial of ground one without further discussion.
In ground two, appellant claimed newly discovered evidence of ineffective assistance of his trial counsel for failure to inform him that the State had made a pre-trial plea offer of 20 to 40 years in prison. He alleged that his half-brother Inescio informed him of the offer after a "chance encounter" with defense counsel, Kirk Barrow, in a parking lot. Appellant alleged Barrow never informed him of the plea offer.1 He told Inescio he did not convey the plea offer because he believed he could have won at trial. Appellant alleged Inescio did not share the information with him until January 2014. In his affidavit filed with this motion, Inescio alleged that he did not understand the significance of his discussion with Attorney Barrow and would have notified appellant about it sooner had he known the information was time sensitive. He said that once he told appellant of the offer, appellant asked him to prepare an affidavit as soon as possible.
Failure of counsel to convey a plea offer can constitute ineffective assistance of trial counsel. See e.g. Jacques v. State, 193 So.3d 1065 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016). Appellant's claim comports with Alcorn v. State, 121 So.3d 419 (Fla.2013). Appellant said he would have accepted the offer, as would the trial judge, given "the general practice of accepting plea negotiations between the State and the defense." He also alleged the prosecutor would not have withdrawn the offer. The record does not refute the claim. Brice v. State, 162 So.3d 81, 83 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014).
The trial court summarily denied relief on this ground based on the State's response that argued appellant failed to allege or...
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Tribbitt v. State
...the twenty-year plea offer."Mr. Tribbitt argued that his circumstances were "virtually identical" to those in Petit-Homme v. State , 205 So. 3d 848 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016), where the defendant claimed his half-brother told him about a previously unconveyed plea offer seventeen years after his c......
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Taylor v. State, Case No. 5D18–295
...no application here as Taylor's "newly discovered" claim is based upon an allegedly undisclosed plea offer. See Petit–Homme v. State , 205 So.3d 848, 849 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016) (reversing a summary denial of a newly discovered plea offer claim and remanding for further proceedings to address w......
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Clark v. State, 4D17–680
...the plea offer is not imputed to Clark for purposes of the newly discovered fact exception of Rule 3.850(b)(1). See Petit–Homme v. State , 205 So.3d 848 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016) (reversing a similar newly discovered plea offer claim and remanding for further proceedings where the record did not ......
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Charging a crime, arraignment and pleas
...plea offer by defendant’s half-brother is not imputed to the defendant, no matter how often they are in contact. Petit-Homme v. State, 205 So. 3d 848 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016) The application (or non-application) of jail credit to defendant’s prison sentence was a direct consequence of his plea, ......